bob walker Rep 28%
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">house sci chair?</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">panned by tip</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/robert-smith-walker">https://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/robert-smith-walker</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wexler_and_Walker_Public_Policy_Associates">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Wexler_and_Walker_Public_Policy_Associates</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.3864045/trump-advisor-wants-to-cut-nasa-climate-change-research-calls-it-politicized-science-1.3864051">https://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as-it-happens-wednesday-edition-1.3864045/trump-advisor-wants-to-cut-nasa-climate-change-research-calls-it-politicized-science-1.3864051</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">whine do-over</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="" /><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">no lnx</font></font></font></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Trump advisor wants to cut NASA climate change research, calls it 'politicized science'</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CBC Radio · Posted: Nov 23, 2016 2:47 PM PST | Last Updated: <b>November 25, 2016</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Read Story Transcript</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">President-elect Donald Trump has notoriously claimed climate change is a hoax.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>Yesterday, he walked that back a bit, acknowledging "some connectivity" between human actions and the climate. But, that hasn't stopped one of his campaign's space policy advisors from saying that under President Trump, NASA's climate change research should be halted.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AS IT HAPPENS | 'A disaster': Astronomer on Trump adviser's plan to cut NASA research</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">That adviser is Robert Walker. He's the former chairman of the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The policy that was developed by the Trump campaign would have NASA go back to its roots of doing deep-space science and doing exploration.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">- Robert Walker</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Here's part of Walker's conversation with As it Happens host Carol Off:</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CAROL OFF: Mr. Walker, why do you think that NASA should stop doing research related to climate change?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">ROBERT WALKER: Well, I think that the climate change research should be placed in agencies that are more oriented toward earth science ... The policy that was developed by the Trump campaign would have NASA go back to its roots of doing deep-space science and doing exploration. So, we are not ending climate science by any stretch of the imagination. But, what we are doing is ensuring that the science which is done by agencies that are more equipped to handle that kind of scientific endeavour.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">AS IT HAPPENS | With 'whisk of a pen' Trump could override key climate change initiatives, warns scientist</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CO: You've written that NASA is too focused on "politically correct environmental monitoring" of climate change. Can you tell us what you mean by that? </span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">RW: Again, I've never written that. So, the fact is —</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CO: I'm so sorry, sir. We just have an op-ed piece that's co-signed by you. That's not a quote from you? Your name is on that article.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"I would like to be in the position of backing sound science not politicized science."</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">- Robert Walker</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RW: What you have is a position paper that was done by the campaign, that yes, I am signed on to. But, I don't remember that we said in that paper that it was politically oriented science. What I have said is that I think that the climate science needs to be done at places that are oriented toward climate. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is a climate agency. It is our feeling that the climate agency should be doing climate programs ... What I will say is that I think that there has been a good deal of political correctness that has been tied to the science programs. I would like to be in the position of backing sound science not politicized science.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: Do you doubt the conclusions that climate scientists have come to as to the effects of climate change and the causes of it that are human?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">RW: What I question is whether or not the science that has been done thus far is being done as scientific analysis, rather than a work of scientific institution and investigation. Because that leads me to believe that some of the, at least, press statements coming out of those scientific investigations have more of a political feel than a scientific one. Look, I'm not a bench scientist. I'm a politician. I know politics when I see it. And, there has been a great deal of political use of what some scientists have done. I also look at the fact that there are very, very reputable climatologists — not social scientists — who have doubts about the nature of the work that's being done in the climate area.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In this July 19, 2007 file photo, an iceberg melts off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland. More than 2 trillion tons of land ice in Greenland, Antarctica and Alaska have melted since 2003, according to new NASA satellite data that show the latest signs of what scientists say is global warming. (AP Photo/John McConnico)</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CO: Here's a statement: "Human activities are responsible for almost all of the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere over the last 150 years." Would you agree with that?</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">RW: I don't know whether that's true or not. What I do know is — </span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CO: Well, can I just tell you the source of that statement? The United States Environmental Protection Agency.</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">RW: Well, the United States Environmental Protection Agency over the last year few years has been a highly politicized agency. So, I don't regard that as being a real scientific judgement</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: We're just learning some of the views of the President-elect now. There's a statement he made in 2015 that I'd like to play for you. I'll get your response.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In the clip, Trump says,"First of all, I'm not a believer in global warming. I'm not a believer in man-made global warming. It could be warming. And it's going start to cool at some point. And you know, in the 1920s, people talked about global cooling. I don't know if you know that or not. They thought the Earth was cooling. Now it's global warming. So I am not a believer. . . unless somebody can prove something to me. I believe there's weather, I believe there's change. And I believe it goes up, and it goes down, and it goes up again. And it changes depending on years and centuries."</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CO: That's President-elect Donald Trump in 2015. Do you agree with him?</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">RW: Well, I think that it is clear that the models the scientists have used on global warming have been extremely flawed models. The things that they said 10 and 15 years ago, that were going to take place downstream, have not happened ... Don't tell us that we ought to make multi-trillion dollar political decisions based upon science which may be incomplete. </span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RELATED: Trump win the 'most miserable U.S. election result' for fighting climate change, scientists say]</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">CO: You don't agree that the vast majority of climate scientists support the consensus that global warming is happening and it's man-made?</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">RW: When you say the vast majority, I don't think it's the vast majority of climatologists who believe that. I said the scientific consensus that they keep talking about includes many, many <b>social </b>scientists as well </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">—</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: No, I'm talking about published climate scientists.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>RW: Among climatologists there is still a debate about the causes of the global warming.</b> So, I think that that debate is healthy and I'm entirely concerned about the fact that some of the<b> climatologists who do not buy into the orthodoxy are being prevented from even having their works published </b>because they are being told that if you don't agree with the orthodoxy you are not really engaged in good science.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: It's stated though that a very small percentage, probably a single digit percentage of scientists, disagree with that —</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RW: I don't think that's true. I think there are a significant number of climatologists who are sceptical of the man-made part. They are not skeptical of the trend toward global warming ...</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: You've said elsewhere you think only about half of scientists actually agree with the consensus on climate change.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RW: Again, you're using the term scientists. I'm using the term climatologist. And climatologists are divided in that particular analysis. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>CO: What's the source of that fact?</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>
</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>RW: I don't remember where exactly I've seen it. But, it is something I've read somewhere along the line.</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: Would you be able to provide us with the source of that fact?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The Thwaites Glacier in Antarctica is seen in this undated NASA image. Vast glaciers in West Antarctica seem to be locked in an irreversible thaw linked to global warming that may push up sea levels for centuries, scientists said on May 12, 2014. (NASA via Reuters)]</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">RW: I can't. I read all the time and I don't remember that. But, the fact is that in world panels on climate, many of the people who do not agree with the conclusion of human-caused global warming have not been permitted to present at those panels. And in many cases their articles and research has not been permitted to be put in the standard scientific journals</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: And, the panel you're referring to is?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RW: Again, it is the various science panels that meet. It's the UN panel. It's the climate forums that take place on a worldwide basis.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">CO: I think you're referring to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Is that right?</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">RW: That's one of them, yes.</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>After recording this interview, an As it Happens producer received the following email from Robert Walker:</b></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"I feel that my assistant was misled about the true nature of the interview that I was told would be to discuss the Trump campaign's overall NASA agenda. Clearly it was an interview designed to focus on climate change and expect me to be able to cite sources from memory. Therefore, I would like to defend my integrity on the statements I made by citing reputable sources that confirm those statements. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Open Sources, Science and Solutions has reported that the supposed scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming is more hype than real and is nowhere near the 97% commonly reported. </div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> The National Association of Scholars</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> has reported the 40% of scientists with a specialty related to climate do not ascribe to anthropogenic warming. The Center for Climate Research showed the 97% consensus figure is a number derived from suspect statistical analysis. According to the Center only 1% of 4000 abstracts expressing an opinion on warming attributed it solely to anthropogenic causes. So my call for science integrity rather than politicized science in pursuit of political goals has substantial foundation in the science community. Whether or not you agree with these sources, they do represent a contrary view that used to be welcomed in scientific circles. <b>Given that I am able to cite foundation for my comments, I hope you will report that I followed up the interview with citations that affirmed my position. That would constitute journalistic integrity." </b></span></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">
</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">MORE FROM THIS EPISODE</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Senator tables private member's bill to protect journalists and their sources</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Nov. 23, 2016 episode transcript</div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">FULL EPISODE: As It Happens: Wednesday Editio</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A senior adviser to President-elect Donald Trump is urging the new administration to shut down NASA’s world-leading climate science work. The idea, apparently, is that turning away from facts about climate change will make it go away.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">That would not only be devastating for global efforts to keep our climate safe, but a severe problem for anyone who depends on cutting-edge weather prediction – including farmers, states vulnerable to destructive storms, businesses and our economy as a whole.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The problem is that climate and weather research comprises a “seamless suite” of services. Advancements in climate modeling support critical weather prediction modeling.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Since weather prediction and short-term climate prediction (think El Niño, drought and so on) are important to all Americans, cuts to climate research at NASA would have large economic consequences and negative impacts on efforts to protect American lives and property.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This work is particularly important in dealing with weather disasters occurring across the southern tier of the United Sates. And as the climate continues to change, weather prediction will become ever more important for preparedness and planning.</font></p><blockquote style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 47px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" quotes="quotes" background-image="background-image" url="url" https="https" d1taatozpbffx3.cloudfront.net="d1taatozpbffx3.cloudfront.net" cdn="cdn" farfuture="farfuture" rr18anogdlpopmreh-r7f7ztjbi6juak2ena6zdt0hq="rR18AnoGdLpOpmrEh-R7f7ZtjBI6juak2Ena6ZdT0HQ" mtime:1376318730="mtime:1376318730" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" edf="edf" images="images" quote.png="quote.png" background-position="background-position" left="left" top="top" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip" xmlns:mtime="mtime"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Cuts to climate research at NASA would have large economic consequences and negative impacts on efforts to protect American lives and property.</font></p></blockquote><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The bigger picture is that climate change is on a path to cause trillions in damage to our economy, according to <a href="https://www.edf.org/blog/2015/10/07/citibank-how-investments-clean-energy-can-save-trillions" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.15s ease-in 0s;">Citibank estimates</a>. That’s why so many leading businesses want to keep us on track to cut carbon pollution. If we don’t we will be leaving a terrible burden for our children.</font></p><h4 style="line-height: 20px; margin: 30px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Science makes America great</font></h4><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">America was born in an age of reason. Our founders respected <a href="https://www.edf.org/science-driving-force-behind-edf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.15s ease-in 0s;">science</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Science made America what it is – it helped us win World War II, the space race, the Cold War and made us the preeminent global power.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Weather and climate prediction have provided incalculable value to our economy and saved untold numbers of lives.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-family: Georgia, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Slashing vital research on climate – as suggested by Bob Walker, a former Republican congressman from Pennsylvania who now serves on Trump’s NASA transition team – will hurt everyone, no matter who they voted for.</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
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Trump to scrap Nasa climate research in crackdown on ‘politicized science’
Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding as the president-elect seeks to shift focus away from home in favor of deep space exploration
Oliver Milman in New York
@olliemilman
Wednesday 23 November 2016 00.00 EST
Last modified on Thursday 1 December 2016 16.33 EST
This article is 1 month old
Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.
Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding in favor of exploration of deep space, with the president-elect having set a goal during the campaign to explore the entire solar system by the end of the century.
2016 locked into being hottest year on record, Nasa says
Read more
This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2bn next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">proposed budget of $2.8bn in 2017.
<b>Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, </b>said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”.
“We see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker told the Guardian. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.</span>
“My guess is that it would be difficult to stop all ongoing Nasa programs but future programs should definitely be placed with other agencies. I believe that climate research is necessary but it has been heavily politicized, which has undermined a lot of the work that researchers have been doing. Mr Trump’s decisions will be based upon solid science, not politicized science.”
A senior Trump adviser said there is no need for Nasa to do what he has called ‘politically correct environmental monitoring’.
A senior Trump adviser said there is no need for Nasa to do what he has called ‘politically correct environmental monitoring’. Photograph: Massimo Rumi / Barcroft Images
Trump has previously said that climate change is a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, although on Tuesday he said there is “some connectivity” between human actions and the climate. There is overwhelming and long-established evidence that burning fossil fuels and deforestation causes the release of heat-trapping gases, therefore causing the warming experienced in recent decades.
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Duration Time 12:51
‘No one’s an exception’: toll of climate change, from US to the Marshall Islands – video
Walker, however, claimed that doubt over the role of human activity in climate change “is a view shared by half the climatologists in the world. We need good science to tell us what the reality is and science could do that if politicians didn’t interfere with it.”
It could put us back into the ‘dark ages’ ... Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential
Kevin Trenberth, National Center for Atmospheric Research
It’s understood that federal government scientists have been unnerved by Trump’s dismissal of climate science and are concerned that their work will be sidelined as part of a new pro-fossil fuels and deregulation agenda. Climate scientists at other organizations expressed dismay at the potential gutting of Earth-based research.
Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said as Nasa provides the scientific community with new instruments and techniques, the elimination of Earth sciences would be “a major setback if not devastating”.
“It could put us back into the ‘dark ages’ of almost the pre-satellite era,” he said. “It would be extremely short sighted.
“We live on planet Earth and there is much to discover, and it is essential to track and monitor many things from space. Information on planet Earth and its atmosphere and oceans is essential for our way of life. Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential.”
Paris climate deal: Trump says he now has an 'open mind' about accord
Read more
Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, said Nasa has a “critical and unique role” in observing Earth and climate change.
“Without the support of Nasa, not only the US but the entire world would be taking a hard hit when it comes to understanding the behavior of our climate and the threats posed by human-caused climate change,” he said.
“It would be a blatantly political move, and would indicate the president-elect’s willingness to pander to the very same lobbyists and corporate interest groups he derided throughout the campaign.”
Nasa has appointed two officials, Tom Cremins and Jolene Meidinger, to lead the transition to the new Trump administration. However, the president-elect’s team has yet to formally review the space agency.
“The Nasa community is committed to doing whatever we can to assist in making the executive branch transition a smooth one,” a Nasa spokesman said. “The agency remains focused on the future, a future that will improve our understanding of our changing home planet from Nasa’s unique platforms in space.”
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</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://www.globalpossibilities.org/trump-to-scrap-nasa-climate-research-in-crackdown-on-politicized-science/</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">TRUMP TO SCRAP NASA CLIMATE RESEARCH IN CRACKDOWN ON ‘POLITICIZED SCIENCE’</font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></font></div><div>Nov 23, 2016 by Casey Coates Danson</div><div>
</div><div>Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding as the president-elect seeks to shift focus away from home in favor of deep space exploration</div><div>A Nasa Earth photo shows the Bruckner and Heim glaciers where they flow into the Johan Petersen fjord in southeastern Greenland.</div><div>A Nasa Earth photo shows the Bruckner and Heim glaciers where they flow into the Johan Petersen fjord in southeastern Greenland. Photograph: Jeremy </div><div>
</div><div>Donald Trump is poised to eliminate all climate change research conducted by Nasa as part of a crackdown on “politicized science”, his senior adviser on issues relating to the space agency has said.</div><div>Nasa’s Earth science division is set to be stripped of funding in favor of exploration of deep space, with the president-elect having set a goal during the campaign to explore the entire solar system by the end of the century.</div><div>
</div><div>2016 locked into being hottest year on record, Nasa says</div><div>This would mean the elimination of Nasa’s world-renowned research into temperature, ice, clouds and other climate phenomena. Nasa’s network of satellites provide a wealth of information on climate change, with the Earth science division’s budget set to grow to $2bn next year. By comparison, space exploration has been scaled back somewhat, with a proposed budget of $2.8bn in 2017.</div><div>
</div><div><b>Bob Walker, a senior Trump campaign adviser, said there was no need for Nasa to do what he has previously described as “politically correct environmental monitoring”.</b></div><div>“We see Nasa in an exploration role, in deep space research,” Walker told the Guardian. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.</div><div>
</div><div>“My guess is that it would be difficult to stop all ongoing Nasa programs but future programs should definitely be placed with other agencies. I believe that climate research is necessary but it has been heavily politicized, which has undermined a lot of the work that researchers have been doing. Mr Trump’s decisions will be based upon solid science, not politicized science.”</div><div>
</div><div>A senior Trump adviser said there is no need for Nasa to do what he has called ‘politically correct environmental monitoring’.</div><div>
</div><div>A senior Trump adviser said there is no need for Nasa to do what he has called ‘politically correct environmental monitoring’. Photograph: Massimo Rumi / Barcroft Images</div><div>Trump has previously said that climate change is a “hoax” perpetrated by the Chinese, although on Tuesday he said there is “some connectivity” between human actions and the climate. There is overwhelming and long-established evidence that burning fossil fuels and deforestation causes the release of heat-trapping gases, therefore causing the warming experienced in recent decades.</div><div> </div><div>‘No one’s an exception’: toll of climate change, from US to the Marshall Islands – video</div><div>
</div><div>Walker, however, claimed that doubt over the role of human activity in climate change “is a view shared by half the climatologists in the world. We need good science to tell us what the reality is and science could do that if politicians didn’t interfere with it.”</div><div>It could put us back into the ‘dark ages’ … Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential</div><div>Kevin Trenberth, National Center for Atmospheric Research</div><div>
</div><div>It’s understood that federal government scientists have been unnerved by Trump’s dismissal of climate science and are concerned that their work will be sidelined as part of a new pro-fossil fuels and deregulation agenda. Climate scientists at other organizations expressed dismay at the potential gutting of Earth-based research.</div><div>Kevin Trenberth, senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, said as Nasa provides the scientific community with new instruments and techniques, the elimination of Earth sciences would be “a major setback if not devastating”.</div><div>“It could put us back into the ‘dark ages’ of almost the pre-satellite era,” he said. “It would be extremely short sighted.</div><div>“We live on planet Earth and there is much to discover, and it is essential to track and monitor many things from space. Information on planet Earth and its atmosphere and oceans is essential for our way of life. Space research is a luxury, Earth observations are essential.”</div><div>
</div><div>Paris climate deal: Trump says he now has an ‘open mind’ about accord</div><div>Michael Mann, a climate scientist at Penn State University, said Nasa has a “critical and unique role” in observing Earth and climate change.</div><div>“Without the support of Nasa, not only the US but the entire world would be taking a hard hit when it comes to understanding the behavior of our climate and the threats posed by human-caused climate change,” he said.</div><div>“It would be a blatantly political move, and would indicate the president-elect’s willingness to pander to the very same lobbyists and corporate interest groups he derided throughout the campaign.”</div><div>Nasa has appointed two officials, Tom Cremins and Jolene Meidinger, to lead the transition to the new Trump administration. However, the president-elect’s team has yet to formally review the space agency.</div><div>“The Nasa community is committed to doing whatever we can to assist in making the executive branch transition a smooth one,” a Nasa spokesman said. “The agency remains focused on the future, a future that will improve our understanding of our changing home planet from Nasa’s unique platforms in space.”</div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/11/23/13730540/trump-nasa-climate-change-earth">http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/11/23/13730540/trump-nasa-climate-change-earth</a></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p id="sAczRS" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(241, 243, 242);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Trump isn’t just <a href="http://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2016/11/14/13582562/trump-gop-climate-environmental-policy" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600; background-color: transparent !important;">vowing to undo US climate policies</a> as president. His transition team is also talking about curtailing NASA’s ability to study climate change.</font></p><p id="xQFemb" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(241, 243, 242);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/nasa-earth-donald-trump-eliminate-climate-change-research" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600; background-color: transparent !important;">an interview</a> with the Guardian, Bob Walker, a former congressman and Trump’s space policy adviser, said he’d like to shrink NASA’s Earth-monitoring programs going forward. “We see NASA in an exploration role, in deep space research,” he said. “Earth-centric science is better placed at other agencies where it is their prime mission.”</font></p><p id="9dLmeR" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(241, 243, 242);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">In the piece, it becomes clear that what Walker really dislikes is NASA’s <a href="http://data.giss.nasa.gov/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600; background-color: transparent !important;">research on global warming</a>, which he called “heavily politicized” without any justification. (Walker, who was the Republican chair of the House science committee from 1995 to 1997, claimed that “half” the world’s climatologists doubt the human role in global warming — that’s just <a href="http://ipcc-wg2.gov/AR5/images/uploads/WG2AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600; background-color: transparent !important;">not true at all</a>.)</font></p><p id="l9Kjso" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(241, 243, 242);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">A move like this, if it actually happened, could be a big deal. Not only would it mean serious changes to America’s ability to study global warming, but it could affect a host of other key NASA programs that provide info on everything from weather to wildfires to drought and much more. And while any change to NASA’s budget would require congressional approval, plenty of Republicans in both the House and Senate <a href="http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2015/04/house-budget-authorization-slashes-500-million-from-nasas-earth-science-programs/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; font-style: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; transition: color 0.1s, background-color 0.1s, fill 0.1s; border-bottom: 1px solid transparent; font-weight: 600; background-color: transparent !important;">are on board with removing</a> the agency’s earth science programs.</font></p><p id="l9Kjso" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: inherit; vertical-align: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 1.2rem; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(241, 243, 242);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">...</font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_Walker</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style=""><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="">Robert Smith Walker</b>, popularly known as <b style="">Bob Walker</b>, (born December 23, 1942) is a former American politician who represented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Pennsylvania</a> in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives" title="United States House of Representatives" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">United States House of Representatives</a> as a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_Party(United_States)" title="Republican Party (United States)" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Republican</a> from 1977 until his retirement in 1997</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. He was known for his fiery rhetoric and knowledge of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parliamentary_procedure" title="Parliamentary procedure" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">parliamentary procedure</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span></font></p><h2 style="background: none rgb(255, 255, 255); font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><span class="mw-headline" id="Life_and_career">Life and career</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; display: inline-block; white-space: nowrap; unicode-bidi: isolate;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></h2><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradford,Pennsylvania" title="Bradford, Pennsylvania" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Bradford</a>, Pennsylvania, Walker graduated from Penn Manor High School. He attended the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_William_and_Mary" class="mw-redirect" title="College of William and Mary" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">College of William and Mary</a> from 1960 to 1961 and received his B.S. from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millersville_University_of_Pennsylvania" title="Millersville University of Pennsylvania" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Millersville University of Pennsylvania</a> in 1964. Walker taught high school from 1964 to 1967. He took his M.A. from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Delaware" title="University of Delaware" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">University of Delaware</a> in 1968 and served in the Pennsylvania National Guard from 1967 to 1973.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Walker became an assistant to Pennsylvania congressman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Duing_Eshleman" title="Edwin Duing Eshleman" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Edwin Duing Eshleman</a>, working for him from 1967 to Eshleman's retirement in 1977. Walker was elected to his seat representing southeastern Pennsylvania, including <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanon_County,Pennsylvania" title="Lebanon County, Pennsylvania" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Lebanon</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancaster_County,Pennsylvania" title="Lancaster County, Pennsylvania" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Lancaster</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chester_County,Pennsylvania" title="Chester County, Pennsylvania" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Chester</a> Counties.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In Congress, Walker was an outspoken conservative and allied himself with fellow conservatives <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newt_Gingrich" title="Newt Gingrich" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Newt Gingrich</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dornan" title="Bob Dornan" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Bob Dornan</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent_Lott" title="Trent Lott" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Trent Lott</a> and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservative_Opportunity_Society" class="mw-redirect" title="Conservative Opportunity Society" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Conservative Opportunity Society</a>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> He was one of the speakers at the first </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Leadership_Conference" title="Pennsylvania Leadership Conference" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Pennsylvania Leadership Conference</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> in 1989.</span><sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_Walker#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[1]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Barone(pundit)" title="Michael Barone (pundit)" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Michael Barone</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Grant_Ujifusa&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Grant Ujifusa (page does not exist)" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Grant Ujifusa</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> wrote that Walker was "scrappy, good humored, and ready to push his principles forward even at the cost of being mocked." He was a hawk on </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deficit_spending" title="Deficit spending" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">deficit spending</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and worked to reduce government spending but at the same time served on the science committee and advocated more spending on the space program, weather research, hydrogen research, and earthquake programs as well as pushing for a cabinet-level department of science.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Walker was also responsible for a rare punishment of the Speaker of the House and aiding in the rise of Gingrich.</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> When </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C-SPAN" title="C-SPAN" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">C-SPAN</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> began televising the House, Walker, Gingrich, and other conservatives found they could reach a national audience with special order speeches, given at the end of the day after the House finished its legislative program. In these speeches, they assailed the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Democratic_Party" class="mw-redirect" title="United States Democratic Party" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Democrats</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> and their leadership in the House. On May 10, 1984, Walker was speaking to an empty chamber and </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Speaker <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tip_O%27Neill" title="Tip O'Neill" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Tip O'Neill</a> had the cameras pan the nearly empty chamber.<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_Walker#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">[2]</a></sup> No notice of this change was given to the Republicans when it was implemented on May 14, 1984. When the Republicans found out what was going on, Walker, who was speaking when the panning began, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Michel" class="mw-redirect" title="Bob Michel" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Bob Michel</a>, the Republican leader, angrily complained on the floor</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. The next day, Gingrich was speaking and Speaker O'Neill lost his cool, resulting in O'Neill's words being taken down and ruled out of order. No Speaker had been so punished since 1795. These events made Gingrich a household name. Gingrich would later bring Walker into the Republican leadership; Walker was chief deputy whip.</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Walker was a fierce advocate of stronger drug laws. He proposed that all federal contractors institute programs among their employees with violations to result in the forfeiture of federal contracts – even if as little as one joint were found in a contractor's workplace. Walker also led a campaign against the rewriting of the <i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Record" title="Congressional Record" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Congressional Record</a></i> and had the practice banned in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/104th_United_States_Congress" title="104th United States Congress" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">104th Congress</a> when Republicans won control of the House. He was chairman of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_Committee_on_Science" class="mw-redirect" title="United States House Committee on Science" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">House Science Committee</a> during his last term.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_Quarterly" title="Congressional Quarterly" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">Congressional Quarterly</a> would write that "he has raised too many hackles and rubbed too many nerves to be very popular" in the House, but the voters back in Pennsylvania only once gave him less than sixty-five percent of the vote.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="">In 2001 he was appointed by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_of_the_United_States" title="President of the United States" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">President</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">George W. Bush</a></b> to chair the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commission_on_the_Future_of_the_United_States_Aerospace_Industry" title="Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry</a>. He also served on the President's Commission on Implementation of the United States Space Exploration Policy (2004) and the President's Commission on the United States Postal Service (2005).</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">His name had been circulated as a possible <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA" title="NASA" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">NASA</a> administrator following the 2004 resignation of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sean_O%27Keefe" title="Sean O'Keefe" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration: none;">Sean O'Keefe</a></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. He is now on the board of directors of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Adventures" title="Space Adventures" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Space Adventures</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, and has served as chairman of the board of the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Foundation" title="Space Foundation" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Space Foundation</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. He is chairman of the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technical Advisory Committee of the U.S. Department of Energy. In October 2016 he was appointed space policy adviser of </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">Donald Trump</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">'s </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_presidential_campaign,2016" title="Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016" style="background: none; text-decoration: none;">presidential campaign</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">.</span><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Smith_Walker#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration: none; background: none;">[3]</a></sup></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">http://wexlerwalker.com/our-team/</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0.5em 0px; line-height: inherit;"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">Walker is executive chairman of the Washington lobbying firm, Wexler & Walker Public Policy Associates. <a rel="nofollow" class="external autonumber" href="http://www.wexlerwalker.com/walker.htm" style="text-decoration: none; background: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent) right center no-repeat, url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" c="C" fxml="Fxml" version="version" d="D" encoding="encoding" utf-8="UTF-8" standalone="standalone" no="no" f="F" e="E" csvg="Csvg" http="http" a="A" fwww.w3.org="Fwww.w3.org" f2000="F2000" fsvg="Fsvg" width="width" height="height" cpath="Cpath" fill="fill" fff="fff" stroke="stroke" m1.5="M1.5" h5.982v10.5h1.5z="h5.982V10.5H1.5z" m5.765="M5.765" h11v5.39l9.427="H11v5.39L9.427" l-1.31-1.31l5.393="l-1.31-1.31L5.393" l-2.69-2.688="l-2.69-2.688" l4.2="L4.2" z="z" m9.995="M9.995" l.022="l.022" l8.2="L8.2" l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z="l2.882-2.88-1.85-1.852z" padding-right="padding-right" px="px" xmlns="xmlns" xmlns:data="data">[1]</a></font></p></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">==</font></div>