Short Takes – 6-14-23

Democrats rail against ‘petty,’ ‘retaliatory’ GOP agriculture funding bill. TheHill.com article. Pull quote: “The proposed limits are more in line with a separate bill — known as the Limit, Save, Grow Act of 2023 — Republicans passed earlier this year to raise the debt limit, along with a host of partisan spending measures calling for more than $4 trillion in cuts over the next decade.”

A ‘Soda Ocean’ on a Moon of Saturn Has All the Ingredients for Life. NYTimes.com article. Pull quote: “With the discovery of phosphorus on the ocean world, scientists say they have now found all of the elements there that are essential to life as we know it. Phosphorus is a key ingredient in human bones and teeth, and scientists say it is the rarest bio-essential ingredient in the cosmos. Planetary researchers had previously detected the other five key elements on Enceladus: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur (the last of which has been tentatively detected).”

Space National Guard Gains Steam in House. AirAndSpceForces.com article. Pull quote: “Subcommittee members voted to turn the 14 units and 1,000 space-focused Airmen in the Air National Guard into a new Space National Guard. Lawmakers also offered a measure that would require the Space Force to maintain a single personnel management system, rather than creating a separate Space Force Reserve.”

Hazardous Materials: Notification of Termination of Certain Explosive Classification Approvals Due to Non-Compliance With the UN Model Regulation Test Series 6(d) Requirement. Federal Register PHMSA notice of termination of explosive approvals. Summary: “PHMSA has terminated the Explosive (EX) classification approvals listed below [link added]. PHMSA published a Federal Register Notice on May 4, 2021, notifying the approval holders listed below that PHMSA intended to terminate their approvals for failure to provide proof that the approved explosives successfully completed the UN Test Series 6(d) of Part I of the UN Manual of Tests and Criteria. The notice advised approval holders that they must either show why their approvals should not be terminated or apply for a modification of their approval prior to June 3, 2021.