Rep. Jim Bridenstine struck a very bipartisan tone in his opening statement, stressing the need for partnership and transparency to get Americans to space and return them safely home. | AP Photo Trump's NASA pick faces blistering criticism on Capitol Hill

Democrats pummeled President Donald Trump’s pick to lead NASA at his confirmation hearing Wednesday, criticizing his past controversial statements on gay rights and climate change as well as poking holes in his professional qualifications.

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), ranking member on the Senate Commerce Committee, commended Rep. Jim Bridenstine (R-Okla.) for his military service but said his experience as a pilot does not alone qualify him to lead NASA and make the budgetary and engineering decisions that come with the job.


The senator also slammed Bridenstine for numerous statements he has made, including discriminatory remarks about the LGBT community and a denial that people contribute to climate change.

“Your recent public service career does not instill great confidence about your leadership skills or ability to bring people together,” Nelson said. “In fact, your record and behavior in Congress is as divisive and extreme as any in Washington.”

In 2013, Bridenstine called the Supreme Court decision declaring same-sex marriage constitutional a “disappointment.” He also called former President Barack Obama’s executive order allowing transgender students to use the bathroom of their identified gender “lawless federal bullying.”

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Remarks like these drew gay rights advocacy groups to try to derail his nomination. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) also urged colleagues in a letter last week to oppose Bridenstine's nomination over these remarks.

Asked directly how LGBT employees at NASA should feel if he is confirmed, Bridenstine said multiple times that he believes “from my heart that every human being has dignity and worth” and promised to treat all employees equally.

Bridenstine also was asked to answer for his past statements on climate change, including that the global temperature stopped rising a decade ago. Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) repeatedly pressed Bridenstine on his views, asking how much of an impact he believes people have had on the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

“What concerns me the most, in addition to everything Sen. Nelson said, is that this is a science agency. … I get that you don’t have a science-centric background, and I don’t begrudge you that,” Schatz said. “I don’t have a science background, but you know what I do do: I defer to scientists.”

Bridenstine said he believes human activity contributes to the levels of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere but that scientists are “just scratching the surface” on understanding the Earth’s system. He promised Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.) that science would drive the mission at NASA, and that he’d express that view to others in the administration as well if he is confirmed.

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) defended Bridenstine for his remarks, saying that the climate has undergone “wild swings” for decades that were never linked directly to humans.

“Let me say something about scientific consensus: It hasn’t always been right,” he said. “Galileo challenged scientific consensus, [Nicolaus] Copernicus challenged scientific consensus at their peril, and it turns out they were right, but they were alone for a while.”

Nelson also criticized Bridenstine for past efforts to stamp out bipartisanship, including attacks against politicians in his own party for working across the aisle, including former House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.).

“NASA needs a leader who will unite us, not divide us,” Nelson said. “Respectfully, Congressman Bridenstine, I think you’ve got a long way to go to prove to be that leader.”

But Bridenstine explained those past remarks as things that best represented his constituents in Oklahoma and said that the politics of immigration reform and other issues wouldn’t be relevant to his leadership of NASA.

“The advocacy I’ve had for the constituents of Oklahoma is the same advocacy I’d like to bring to NASA,” Bridenstine said in response to questioning from Nelson, before adding, “Working with you sir, that absolutely is my highest ambition.”

Bridenstine also supported Kelli Ward, Sen. John McCain’s Republican primary challenger, who accused the Arizona senator of being directly responsible for the rise of ISIS and later said she hoped McCain would step down from the Senate following his cancer diagnosis.

When Nelson asked the congressman whether he supported these remarks, he said he endorsed Ward only because a friend in the National Guard had asked him to.

“I don’t live in Arizona, and I’m not aware of these comments,” he said.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) came to Bridenstine’s aid on his past criticism of those in his own party, saying that Nelson himself supported Hillary Clinton in her run for president, even though she criticized liberal Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

“I cannot for the life of me understand why this would be something that disqualifies you,” Lee said.

Republicans criticized their Democratic colleagues for making the confirmation hearing a referendum on climate change and Bridenstine’s past statements rather than questioning him on how he’d advance the nation’s space program. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-Colo.) called it “a little bit disgusting.”

Bridenstine struck a very bipartisan tone in his opening statement, stressing the need for partnership and transparency to get Americans to space and return them safely back home.

“Should I be confirmed, it will be my intention to build off the work done by the great people at NASA during the last administration,” he said. “We must all do this together.”

Bridenstine laid out some of his vision for the future of the country’s space program, saying he supports the administration’s plan to get to Mars by using the moon as a “proving ground.”

