The right to vote was added to the bill that was meant to help NASA raise money.
The "Freedom to Vote: John R. Lewis Act" was enacted by the House of Representatives in order to undermine Republican opposition to expanding the franchise.
The act allows for same-day voter registration, allows more types of non-photographic ID for voting, and allows for a federal holiday on election day.
The Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center is leased to private companies to generate revenue for NASA. The image is from NASA.
The bill was passed by a vote of 220 to 203 in the House.
NASA doesn't have the ability to enter specific types of leases to generate revenue. The authority of NASA to do so expired on December 31st.
Frank Lucas, ranking member of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee that oversees NASA activities, said he was unhappy with moving the bill from its original focus to allow the agency to enter enhanced use leases.
Good policy doesn't need to be secretive. Lucas said in an e-mail statement to his followers that the House had only 12 hours to vote on the matter after 734 pages were tacked on the bill.
He said that the NASA bill was stripped and replaced with an attempt to impose federal control of elections, which killed the only vehicle to extend NASA's authority to lease out underutilized property and save taxpayer money.
The Democratic representative who initially introduced the NASA leasing bill in October praised the move as a way of expanding voting access.
The president is outside the White House. The Washington Post has a credit line with Demetrius Freeman.
The bill will be a counter to attacks on Americans' ability to vote, according to a statement released before the bill was passed.
"Though I did not expect this outcome when I first introduced the NASA Enhanced Use Leasing Extension Act, if my legislation will help overcome the filibuster, the Senate can finally have the long-awaited debate on voting rights this country deserves," he said. I would be honored to make a contribution to the cause of protecting our democracy.
The bill had a long journey to legislation. The House voted to allow NASA to enter leases for the next 10 years on December 8, allowing the bill to go to the Senate.
The Senate modified the bill to allow only a three-month extension for NASA, but passed it unanimously. The bill was re-received by the House under normal procedures.
The White House's South Lawn was the site of the capsule sitting on July 22. The image is from NASA.
The text of two voting rights bills replaced the NASA provisions when the House took the Senate-amended bill.
The report said that they did so because H.R. 5746 had already passed the House and Senate, so the amended version could go directly to the Senate floor without the threat of a filibuster from Senate Republicans who oppose the voting rights legislation.
NASA's lease is still up in the air. A spokesman for Beyer told SpaceNews that he hopes to address that issue in the future.
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