With the concessions yesterday by George Allen and Conrad Burns, the Democrats (and the two independents who will caucus with them) have won a majority in the Senate. That means a shift in seating charts and committee assignments, but not necessarily much else. Sen Bill Nelson (D-FL) will now likely chair the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee, with Sen Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) becoming the ranking minority member, but both hold very similar positions on space policy issues. Nelson tells the Palm Beach Post that he'll work to get additional funding for NASA to accelerate development of Orion in an effort to reduce the gap between the end of the shuttle program and the introduction of Orion
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