President Donald Trump intends to nominate veteran congressional staffer James Morhard as NASA’s deputy administrator, hoping that strong bipartisan connections on Capitol Hill will compensate for lack of technical expertise.
The choice of Mr. Morhard, who earned his political chops in senior staff positions on the Senate Appropriations Committee and is currently the Senate’s deputy sergeant-at-arms, indicates the White House is seeking congressional traction for greater reliance on joint government-commercial projects to explore the solar system.
Traditionally, the NASA post has been filled by someone with a scientific or management background primarily responsible for day-to-day oversight of budget and policy priorities at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. But the Trump administration harbors long-term plans to shake up some legacy programs favored by committee chairmen in favor of boosting commercially oriented human exploration efforts. People familiar with the details said Mr. Morhard’s political ties seem particularly suited to assist in striving for those goals.
Despite Republican control of both the Senate and the House, GOP leaders generally have been reluctant to trim jobs or federal work from major NASA contractors. President Barack Obama’s administration faced many of the same hurdles.
The anticipated nomination, these people said, could be a catalyst to make NASA more nimble and build traction for changes. Mr. Morhard previously was staff director for the Senate appropriations panel responsible for NASA.
Many Democrats are bound to criticize the choice, but Mr. Morhard has longstanding ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. In his current role, Mr. Morhard also has forged relationships with Democratic lawmakers.
In addition, White House aides and outside space advisers have laid the groundwork for Mr. Morhard to receive the backing of prominent industry and former government officials, according to one person familiar with the strategy.
Thursday’s White House announcement also is likely to spark controversy because it followed what amounted to an unusual public campaign by NASA chief Jim Bridenstine on behalf of another potential nominee. Last month, Mr. Bridenstine repeatedly said he was pushing for the nomination of Janet Kavandi, a former astronaut with a doctorate in chemistry and currently director of NASA’s John H. Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. He took the unusual step of explaining he favored a deputy with “a lot of space experience” and said “a scientist would be great.” Mr. Trump decided otherwise.
Mr. Bridenstine, a former GOP House member from Oklahoma, barely won confirmation after months of delay during which Democratic leaders assailed his previous partisan stances and attacked his staunchly conservative views on social issues.
Since Mr. Bridenstine began running the agency, he has pledged to remain apolitical and renounced earlier views that played down human activity as the primary cause of climate change.
Echoing views of Mr. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, the administration’s point man on space, the NASA chief has stressed the importance of enlisting more commercial involvement in robotic and human missions to the moon and beyond.
Mr. Trump has said, only half jokingly, that he would be pleased to see space entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk or Amazon.com Inc. chairman Jeff Bezos beat NASA in eventually sending humans deep into solar system.
Write to Andy Pasztor at andy.pasztor@wsj.com
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