WASHINGTON — The White House’s nominee to be deputy administrator of NASA received bipartisan support at a Senate confirmation hearing March 5.
Matt Anderson faced little questioning from members of the Senate Commerce Committee at a confirmation hearing he shared with Arvind Raman, nominee to be director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
NASA “has long been at the forefront of human exploration and scientific discovery,” Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chairman of the committee, said in his opening remarks. “Mr. Anderson is well-equipped to execute that mission.”
The confirmation hearing came almost 10 months after Anderson was first nominated to be NASA deputy administrator. The committee did not act on the nomination last year and, under Senate rules, the nomination was returned to the White House at the end of its first session. The White House formally renominated Anderson in January.
Anderson, a retired U.S. Air Force officer who has since worked at CACI International and served as one of the leaders of the Space Force Association, used the hearing to introduce himself to members, discussing a career that largely has not involved civil space activities.
He vowed to support Administrator Jared Isaacman and the implementation of a national space policy that calls for a human return to the moon by 2028, before China lands its first astronauts there.
“If we’ve learned anything from Administrator Isaacman’s first two months on the job, it’s that bold leadership matters,” he said. “If confirmed, I will reinforce the culture of safety, accountability and transparency that Administrator Isaacman has recently outlined to NASA as well as the American public.”
Senators asked Anderson few policy questions. He told Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., ranking member of the committee, that he supported the NASA authorization bill the committee approved March 4 that backs efforts announced by Isaacman last week to speed up the pace of Artemis missions.
“I think what we’re looking at right now is a perfect alignment between the administration and this committee,” he said, demonstrated by the committee’s approval of the bill. “We have a challenger, a geopolitical rival, in China that requires cooperation between all whole-of-government parts.”
Asked later by Cruz what priority he placed on returning astronauts to the moon before China’s first crewed landing, he responded, “the absolute highest priority.”
Cruz suggested at the hearing that he would seek to expedite Anderson’s confirmation. “Our nominee will work with Administrator Isaacman to ensure a safe and successful launch for Artemis 2,” he said. That mission is currently slated to launch as soon as early April.
Several hours after the confirmation hearing, the committee announced it will hold an executive session March 12 to vote on advancing Anderson’s nomination to the full Senate.
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