H.R. 2600 · 119th Congress

ASCEND Act

Introduced on Apr 2, 2025 by Jeff Hurd (R-CO-3). 6 cosponsors, 4 of them from another party. Latest action (Feb 24, 2026): Received in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 344.

Stage
Passed one chamber
Introduced
Apr 2, 2025
Cosponsors
6
4 from the other party
Policy area
Science, Technology, Communications
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Progress

The furthest stage the measure reached. Simple and concurrent resolutions do not go to the President.

  1. Introduced
  2. Reported by committee
  3. Passed one chamber
  4. 4Passed both chambers
  5. 5Sent to the President
  6. 6Became law

Official title

To require the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to establish a program to identify, evaluate, acquire, and disseminate commercial Earth remote sensing data and imagery in order to satisfy the scientific, operational, and educational requirements of the Administration, and for other purposes.

Subjects

  • Congressional oversight
  • Earth sciences
  • Photography and imaging
  • Space flight and exploration
  • Spacecraft and satellites

Summary

By the Congressional Research Service (Introduced in House, Apr 2, 2025). Public domain.

Accessing Satellite Capabilities to Enable New Discoveries Act or the ASCEND Act

This bill provides statutory authority for the Commercial SmallSat Data Acquisition (CSDA) program run by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Through the CSDA program, NASA acquires remote sensing data and imagery from commercial satellites to support its Earth science research. (Remote sensing generally refers to the collection of data by instruments in Earth’s orbit, such as satellites, that can be processed into imagery of Earth’s surface.)

Under the bill, NASA may establish or modify end-use agreements to allow for broad use of data and imagery acquired under the program, including by individuals outside of NASA (e.g., other federal agencies). The terms of any data or imagery acquisition may not prevent the publication of such data or imagery for scientific purposes or the publication of information derived from it. To the extent practicable, NASA must acquire such data and imagery from U.S. vendors.

Sponsor and cosponsors

Cosponsors by party as of the day they signed on. Original cosponsors signed on the day of introduction.

Jeff HurdR-CO-3Sponsor

Democrats · 4

Republicans · 2

Roll calls

Recorded votes on the measure. Most measures move by voice vote or unanimous consent, which record no individual positions.

No recorded roll call on this measure: it moved by voice vote or unanimous consent, or has not reached the floor.

History

Every action as published, oldest first. Roll calls link to how each member voted.

  1. Apr 2, 2025Introduced in House
  2. Apr 2, 2025Introduced in House
  3. Apr 2, 2025 · HouseReferred to the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.
  4. Apr 29, 2025 · HouseCommittee Consideration and Mark-up Session Held
  5. Apr 29, 2025 · HouseOrdered to be Reported by Voice Vote.
  6. Feb 20, 2026Reported by the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. H. Rept. 119-502.
  7. Feb 20, 2026 · HouseReported by the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. H. Rept. 119-502.
  8. Feb 20, 2026 · HousePlaced on the Union Calendar, Calendar No. 428.
  9. Feb 23, 2026 · HouseMr. Babin moved to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended.
  10. Feb 23, 2026 · HouseConsidered under suspension of the rules. (consideration: CR H2242-2244)
  11. Feb 23, 2026 · HouseDEBATE - The House proceeded with forty minutes of debate on H.R. 2600.
  12. Feb 23, 2026Passed/agreed to in House: On motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2242-2243)
  13. Feb 23, 2026 · HouseOn motion to suspend the rules and pass the bill, as amended Agreed to by voice vote. (text: CR H2242-2243)
  14. Feb 23, 2026 · HouseMotion to reconsider laid on the table Agreed to without objection.
  15. Feb 24, 2026 · SenateReceived in the Senate. Read twice. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 344.

Committees

Committees and subcommittees the measure was referred to.

Agencies in its committees' jurisdiction

Analisa's mapping of committee jurisdiction to federal agencies; the bill may touch others, or none of these.

Who lobbied on it

Organizations whose lobbying reports (LD-2) name this measure. Spending is what they reported for those quarters on all issues, not on this measure alone.

  1. Planet Labs PBC5 reports
    $1.7M reported (all issues)Federal contractor: PLANET LABS INC.AI match · 100%
  2. Aerospace Industries Association of America, Inc.4 reports
    $2.4M reported (all issues)
  3. VANTOR PARENT INC.3 reports
    $550K reported (all issues)
  4. Maxar Intelligence2 reports
    $390K reported (all issues)
  5. Vantor Parent Inc (formerly reported as Maxar Intelligence)1 report
    $230K reported (all issues)

Reports filed in 2025, 2026.

Sources and method

Every figure on this page traces to these records.

  • Bill status: bills and resolutions, sponsors, actions, subjects and CRS summaries (U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo), from Congress.gov (Library of Congress))GovInfo Bill Status bulk data (Congress.gov; summaries by the Congressional Research Service) · data current to Oct 8, 2026 · loaded Oct 8, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Members of Congress, their terms, committees and identifiers (The @unitedstates project (from the Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress, the House and the Senate))unitedstates/congress-legislators: legislators, committees and current committee membership · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: CC0 1.0 (public domain dedication)
  • House roll-call votes (Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives, roll-call vote records · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Senate roll-call votes and DW-NOMINATE scores (Voteview (UCLA Department of Political Science))Lewis, Jeffrey B., Keith Poole, Howard Rosenthal, Adam Boche, Aaron Rudkin, and Luke Sonnet (2026). Voteview: Congressional Roll-Call Votes Database. https://voteview.com/ · data current to Oct 3, 2026 · loaded Oct 3, 2026 · license: Free to use with the required citation
  • Lobbying disclosures (LD-1 registrations, LD-2 quarterly reports, LD-203 contribution reports) (Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives)Clerk of the House, Lobbying Disclosure Act filings (organizations only; lobbyists' names are not loaded) · data current to Oct 7, 2026 · loaded Oct 7, 2026 · license: Public domain (U.S. Government work, 17 U.S.C. § 105)
  • Positions are shown only where a roll call recorded them; voice votes and unanimous consent record none.
  • Money and votes are shown side by side; neither explains the other.