An early congressional redistricting plan in the Florida Legislature might cost the Space Coast one of its two members of the U.S. House, which Florida Today columnist John Kelly says could be “another blow to the political coalition needed to maintain the nation’s space program.”
Under the plan, the district of Republican U.S. Rep. Sandy Adams, who serves on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, could shift out of Brevard County, home to Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Support for the space program in general, and spending on the space program in particular, has always been tenuous,” Kelly writes. “Programs have tended to live and die through carefully pieced-together alliances among the big states with clusters of space jobs — California, Texas, Ohio and so on. … [A]nything that reduces another member of Congress’ ties to the spaceport here — and the space work force — could be troubling.”
