H.R. 8198

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 8198 Introduced in House (IH)]

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119th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 8198

To amend title 51, United States Code, to advance American space 
operations, and for other purposes.

_______________________________________________________________________

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 6, 2026

Mr. Fong introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology

_______________________________________________________________________

A BILL

To amend title 51, United States Code, to advance American space 
operations, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the ``Optimizing United States Technology 
to Preempt Adversarial Communist Expansion in Space Act'' or the 
``OUTPACE in Space Act''.

SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING LAUNCH AND REENTRY.

(a) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of Congress that--
(1) the commercial space transportation industry and the 
emerging hypersonic industry will remain a critical component 
of the competitiveness of the United States;
(2) to support the growth of the industries described in 
paragraph (1), the Administrator of the Federal Aviation 
Administration should ensure that such industries have access 
to the national airspace while maintaining aviation safety; and
(3) the Administrator should continue to ensure public 
health and safety, and improve airspace management access for 
commercial space and hypersonics users.
(b) FAA Briefing Requirement.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 60 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Federal 
Aviation Administration, in collaboration with the Secretary of 
Defense and other relevant department heads, shall brief 
Congress on--
(A) plans to meet the growing airspace needs of 
commercial space and hypersonics;
(B) plans to maintain current and future air 
traffic operations in the national airspace system 
while meeting the needs described in subparagraph (A); 
and
(C) a process for implementing section 630 of the 
FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024 (Public Law 118-63).
(2) Resource needs.--The Administrator shall estimate the 
resources needed to accomplish the goals described in paragraph 
(1) and identify any legislative barriers or recommendations to 
ensure sufficient airspace access for commercial space and 
hypersonics.
(c) Space Vehicle Reentry.--
(1) Conditional expected casualty.--
(A) Waiver.--Upon enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator shall issue a blanket waiver of 
450.101(c) for all reentry vehicles until a final rule 
is published as described in subparagraph (D).
(B) Advance notice of rulemaking.--Not later than 3 
months after the date of enactment of this Act, the 
Administrator shall issue advanced notice of a proposed 
rulemaking to amend sections 450.101, 450.108, and 
450.135 of title 14, Code of Federal Regulations, to 
ensure that, with respect to conditional expected 
casualty for reentry vehicles, risk considerations 
support the development and authorization of overland 
launch and reentry operations.
(C) Proposed rule.--Not later than 6 months after 
the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator 
shall issue a notice of proposed rulemaking, as 
described in subparagraph (B).
(D) Final rule.--Not later than 1 year after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 
issue a final rule based on the proposed rule issued 
under subparagraph (C).
(2) Regulatory updates.--Not later than 30 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall initiate 
the process to develop or update regulations to ensure that 
risk considerations support the development and authorization 
of overland launch and reentry operations.
(d) High Cadence Operations.--To enable high cadence launch and 
reentry operations by United States licensed companies, the Secretary 
of Transportation shall, using the authority under chapter 509 of title 
51, United States Code, maximize use of performance-based requirements 
and issue, not later than 90 days after the date of enactment of this 
Act, advisory circulars that provide alternative methods of compliance 
that are limited by prescriptive approaches, including for the 
determination of the probability of failure requirements and 
regulations with preset timelines.
(e) Airspace Access.--
(1) In general.--The Secretary of Transportation shall 
prioritize equitable and efficient integration of commercial 
space operations into the national airspace system, and take 
all steps to safely increase the annual cadence of domestic 
commercial launches and reentries.
(2) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the 
Committee on Science, Space, and Technology of the House of 
Representatives and the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
Transportation of the Senate a report on specific planned 
actions and required resources to meaningfully increase the 
ability of the national airspace system to support launch and 
reentry operations, with specific detail on how many additional 
launches and reentries per year such improved processes and 
technologies would enable compared to current baselines.
(f) Expedited Hiring Authority.--
(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of 
law, the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration 
may appoint qualified candidates with specialized knowledge in 
aerospace engineering or related fields to positions in the 
Office of Commercial Space Transportation within 30 days of 
identifying a such a qualified candidate without regard to 
competitive service requirements, examinations, or public 
notice.
(2) Briefing; public information.--
(A) Briefing.--Not later than 45 days after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 
provide to the Committee on Science, Space, and 
Technology of the House of Representatives and the 
Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation of 
the Senate a briefing on the implementation of this 
subsection.
(B) Public information.--Administrator shall 
maintain on the website of the Office of Commercial 
Space Transportation the following information:
(i) How long vacancies for positions 
described in paragraph (1) have been pending.
(ii) How many vacancies at the Office of 
Commercial Space Transportation have been 
addressed using the authority under such 
paragraph (1).

SEC. 3. RESEARCH SECURITY.

(a) Research Security.--Neither the Secretary of Commerce nor the 
Secretary of Transportation may carry out any research or a development 
initiative related to commercial space activities with any entity of 
concern, a foreign business entity, or a foreign country of concern.
(b) Definitions.--In this section:
(1) Entity of concern.--The term ``entity of concern'' has 
the meaning given such term in section 10114 of the Research 
and Development, Competition, and Innovation Act (42 U.S.C. 
18912).
(2) Foreign business entity.--The term ``foreign business 
entity'' means an entity that is--
(A) organized under, or otherwise subject to, the 
laws of a foreign country of concern;
(B) a governmental organization of a foreign 
country of concern; or
(C) owned or controlled (as such term is defined in 
section 800.208 of title 31, Code of Federal 
Regulations, or a successor regulation) by--
(i) any governmental organization of a 
foreign country of concern; or
(ii) any other entity that is organized 
under, or otherwise subject to, the laws of a 
foreign country of concern.
(3) Foreign country of concern.--The term ``foreign country 
of concern'' has the meaning given such term in section 9901 of 
title XCIX of division H of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry 
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (15 
U.S.C. 4651).
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