Senate panel recommends Jared Isaacman to head Nasa

JARED ISAACMAN, a 42-year-old entrepreneur, who has the backing of US president Donald Trump and Elon Musk, is on his way to becoming the head of Nasa, as the space agency undergoes major restructuring.

The US Senate Commerce Committee voted on Wednesday (30) to advance President Donald Trump's nominees to head NASA and to serve as commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission.

Trump has recommended Isaacman, the CEO of payment processing company Shift4 Payments, to head the space agency.

Isaacman is also a business partner of Elon Musk, and flown to space twice as a private astronaut on Musk's SpaceX spacecraft.

Trump expects Isaacman's leadership to pave the way "for groundbreaking achievements" in science and technology.

NASA, like many government agencies, is currently going through a significant restructuring and employees have been offered buyouts to leave.

Once Isaacman gets the nod, he will oversee 18,000 employees and a budget of roughly $25 billion.

The panel also approved the nomination of Olivia Trusty, a Senate aide who would give Republicans three votes on the five-member telecom regulator.

Some Democrats said they would only support Trusty on the Senate floor as long as they had assurances that the Senate would continue to consider Democratic nominees.

Trump had earlier fired both Democrats on the Federal Trade Commission and has also removed Democrats from other independent commissions.