(Washington, D.C.)  - Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison released the following statement on an important exchange of communications between Congressman Frank Wolf(R-VA) and officials with NASA.

Congressman Wolf is the chairman of the House Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations subcommittee. He has reached an agreement with NASA on the future of the nation’s space program.

”I applaud the announcement made today by Representative Frank Wolf(R-VA) on the understanding he has reached with NASA Administrator Bolden.

“I had previously called for NASA to down-select from four potential commercial providers to the top two firms.  Today’s announcement follows that prescription and is welcome news.

“This is an important turning point that should keep development of commercial crew capability on schedule and on budget, and assure that NASA will also have the financial and human resources it needs to move forward with developing heavy launch capabilities for deep space exploration.

“We should have two goals: To ensure full manned access to the space station that utilizes the investment made in that unique microgravity laboratory and to reach our nation’s next horizon in space exploration beyond low earth orbit. Both of these goals can be achieved if we invest taxpayer dollars wisely and take advantage of the years of invaluable experience developed within NASA.

Senator Hutchison is the Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation and Ranking Member of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science.