WASHINGTON — NASA is close to finally having a new administrator.

  • Senate votes to proceed with NASA administrator nomination
  • Almost didn't happen after a brief deadlock in the Senate
  • Rep. Jim Bridenstine would be 1st NASA head from Congress

Rep. Jim Bridenstine, R-OK, is President Trump's pick to lead the space agency.

On Wednesday the Senate voted to invoke cloture and proceed with nomination and debate for Bridenstine. It almost didn't happen though.

For some time the vote to end cloture was deadlocked 49-49. Sens. John McCain and Tammy Duckworth are not in Washington, and Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona actually voted to block the nomination, becoming the only Republican to do so. 

Normally Vice President Mike Pence would be brought in to break the tie, but he is in Florida at Mar-a-Lago with President Trump.

The vote was held open and eventually Flake changed his vote, allowing the nomination to proceed. 

The final vote on Bridenstine will come up in the next 30 hours, per Senate rules, with a vote likely in the next couple of days.

Bridenstine's nomination is controversial because of his limited knowledge of space policy. A congressman from Oklahoma who has served on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, he lacks formal qualifications in the space or science fields, according to critics, which include US Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida. 

Nelson spoke out against Bridenstine's nomination on the Senate floor Wednesday.

"Traditionally the NASA administrator has been well-qualified, is not controversial," Nelson said. "NASA is one of the few remaining areas that has largely avoided the bitter partisanship that has invaded far too many areas of government and our society today. Until now."

"The NASA administrator should be a consummate space professional," Nelson added. "That's what this senator wants -- a space professional, not a politician, as the head of NASA. And that space professional ought to be technically and scientifically competent, and a skilled executive."

Nelson says senators from both sides of the aisle had expressed doubts about Bridenstine's qualifications both publicly and privately to him. Florida's Republican senator, Marco Rubio, expressed his own doubts to the media last year. But in the end, all Republican senators present voted to end cloture. 

If confirmed, Bridenstine would be the first congressman to serve as NASA administrator.