WASHINGTON — The Senate is set to vote on confirming Jared Isaacman’s nomination to be NASA administrator in early June.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) filed cloture on Isaacman’s nomination May 22, a procedural move that would set up a vote on the nomination in early June. The Senate is not in session the week of May 26 because of the Memorial Day holiday.
The nomination has been pending before the full Senate since the Senate Commerce Committee advanced the nomination April 30 on a 19-9 vote. Isaacman had the support of the committee’s chairman, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), and its ranking member, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), although most of the committee’s Democratic members voted against the nomination.
Since that committee vote, Isaacman has been meeting with other senators not on the committee, including those with a NASA presence in their states. That include Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who announced May 6 he met with Isaacman, as did Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) on May 7.
One concern among senators, sources said, is the top-level “skinny” budget for fiscal year 2026 released by the Office of Management and Budget May 2, after Isaacman’s nomination advanced from the Commerce Committee. That budget called for canceling the lunar Gateway and ending the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System after Artemis 3, as well as curtailing use of the International Space Station and cutting space technology funding by half.
While many of the proposals in the budget, like winding down SLS and Orion, were expected, the scale of the cuts, including a nearly 25% overall reduction in NASA spending, still took many by surprise. Isaacman, at his confirmation hearing and subsequent, said he had not been involved in discussions about the budget proposal and was not familiar with the administration’s plans.
Nonetheless, industry officials have been anxious to get Isaacman confirmed to provide leadership for NASA, believing he can more effectively advocate for the agency and address the uncertainty it faces today.
Isaacman would be the first of four positions at NASA that require Senate confirmation to be filled. The White House nominated Matthew Anderson, a retired Air Force colonel, on May 6 to be NASA’s deputy administrator. The senate has not yet acted on that nomination. The administration also nominated Greg Autry to be the agency’s chief financial officer March 24, which is also pending in the Senate.
The White House has yet to nominate someone to be the agency’s inspector general, a post that has been vacant since late 2023.