“You know what makes this bird go up? Funding makes this bird go up.” Dennis Quaid’s line from The Right Stuff has felt less like movie dialogue and more like a policy memo these past two weeks in Washington. OMB paused...more
2/24/2026
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Defense Contracts ,
Federal Funding ,
Investigations ,
NASA ,
National Security ,
OMB ,
Outer Space ,
Procurement Guidelines ,
Senate Armed Services Committee
While the signing of the Defense and Transportation–Housing and Urban Development (HUD) appropriations bills last week ended a brief partial government shutdown, funding is never far the top of the to-do list, with the clock...more
2/10/2026
/ Aerospace ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
EU ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Shutdown ,
National Security ,
Outer Space ,
Russia ,
Satellites ,
Ukraine
Over the past couple of weeks, Congress moved a number of key space-related spending bills, and signaled support for the Pentagon’s acquisition reform agenda (albeit with a few congressionally mandated guardrails). Beyond...more
Congress rang in the new year by unveiling a three-bill minibus funding package that rejects many of the administration’s proposed space and science cuts, the White House published an EO threatening restrictions on defense...more
1/13/2026
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Cybersecurity ,
Data Breach ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Contractors ,
Federal Funding ,
Infrastructure ,
New Legislation ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Russia
If it felt like this was a week of seconds, it wasn’t just you pining for a break over the holidays. President Trump signed the “Ensuring American Space Superiority” executive order, his second EO focused on space policy, and...more
Despite the Thanksgiving holiday, it’s been a busy couple of weeks in space. As we head into 2025’s homestretch, all Speaker Johnson wants for Christmas is final NDAA language, several members want NDAA language to put...more
The longest government shutdown in U.S. history is behind us, and Congress is leaning hard into its NASA and Department of Defense (also referred to as the Department of War) oversight roles. Jared Isaacman is once again the...more
As the U.S. government shutdown continues to drag on, you could be forgiven for thinking work on domestic space policy hasn’t slowed. The FCC launched a proposal to streamline the satellite licensing process, DoD is looking...more
As the U.S. government shutdown approaches its third week, Republicans look for defense and space funding as a lever to break the impasse, and defense budgets on both sides of the Atlantic are already reshaping the commercial...more
Beyond Washington budget headlines, DoD, BIS and DHS all introduced measures that will likely have a significant impact on the commercial space industry; space leaders from around the world convened in Australia for the...more
10/6/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Australia ,
Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) ,
China ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
EU ,
Export Controls ,
Italy ,
National Security ,
Outer Space
On September 29, 2025, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) posted, for public inspection, an interim final rule titled “Expansion of End-User Controls to Cover Affiliates of Certain Listed...more
Good Afternoon! No bucks. No Buck Rogers. The latest FY2026 bill from the House Appropriations Committee preserves NASA’s budget at current levels, and Reps. Bacon and Chu urged House appropriators to protect NASA funding in...more
9/22/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Appropriations Bill ,
Biden Administration ,
Congressional Committees ,
Continuing Resolution ,
Federal Budget ,
Federal Funding ,
Government Agencies ,
NASA ,
Policy Updates ,
Public Policy
Good Afternoon! The past couple of weeks felt a little like U.S. space policy stepped back to 1969. Sen. Ted Cruz channeled John Fogerty to warn about the space race with China and appeared to lean into U.S. government-owned...more
9/8/2025
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
Executive Orders ,
Foreign Policy ,
Government Agencies ,
NASA ,
National Security ,
Outer Space ,
Policy Updates ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration ,
United States
On August 29, 2025, the U.S. Departments of Justice (DOJ) and Homeland Security (DHS) announced the creation of a new cross-agency Trade Fraud Task Force “to bring robust enforcement against importers and other parties who...more
9/8/2025
/ Criminal Prosecution ,
Customs and Border Protection ,
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Enforcement Actions ,
False Claims Act (FCA) ,
Fraud ,
Imports ,
International Trade ,
Tariffs ,
Whistleblowers
Given the Trump Administration’s unprecedented reliance on tariffs as a foreign policy tool and a means to protect and foster U.S. industry, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is rapidly shifting resources and enforcement...more
Good Afternoon! The business of space got a boost on August 13 when the Trump Administration published its EO intended to revamp commercial space regulations. The Administration and Congress continue to square off about...more
8/25/2025
/ Aerospace ,
China ,
Commercial Use ,
Executive Orders ,
Government Agencies ,
Mexico ,
National Security ,
New Regulations ,
Outer Space ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Trump Administration
On August 13, 2025, the Trump administration issued a widely-anticipated executive order (EO, or the Order) covering a range of commercial space regulatory issues to streamline commercial license and permit approvals for...more
Good Afternoon! The past couple of weeks in space policy news have been dominated by defense headlines. In the U.S., a “czar” was appointed to oversee the Golden Dome project and the Pentagon began looking into alternative...more
8/11/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Defense Contracts ,
Defense Sector ,
Department of Defense (DOD) ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
National Security ,
New Legislation ,
Outer Space ,
Regulatory Oversight ,
Regulatory Reform
Good Afternoon! It’s been a busy two weeks across the space industry. Despite recent headlines, it looks like the throttles are all the way forward for space business. The Space Foundation reported that the global space...more
Good Afternoon! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in the orbit of Washington. President Trump nominated a new NASA Administrator, and the “Big Beautiful Bill” gave Space Force a big budget bump. Meanwhile, scientists and the...more
Good Afternoon! The past couple of weeks in space policy news have been dominated by defense headlines. In the U.S., a “czar” was appointed to oversee the Golden Dome project and the Pentagon began looking into alternative...more
6/30/2025
/ Aerospace ,
Defense Sector ,
EU ,
European Commission ,
Executive Orders ,
FCC ,
Government Agencies ,
NASA ,
National Security ,
NATO ,
New Legislation ,
Pentagon ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Reform ,
Request For Information ,
Trump Administration
It’s been a busy couple of weeks in space policy. Although the House Appropriations Committee kept defense funding flat at FY25 levels, it significantly increased funding for Space Force and RDT&E. On the north side of the...more
Welcome to a special edition of Akin’s Space Law, Regulation and Policy Update. We held out hope that the NASA budget would be released in time for our Friday deadline, but that was not to be. And a lot has happened since our...more
It’s been a busy couple of weeks on Capitol Hill with at least half a dozen space-related hearings, the introduction of a bill that would modernize human spaceflight infrastructure at Johnson Space Center and another that...more
Good Afternoon! It’s been a busy couple of weeks in space and space policy. President Trump proposed a $6 billion cut to NASA's budget and a $1 trillion defense budget, the nominee to lead NASA is moving to the full Senate...more