Congress·In Committee·S. 3672

NASA Talent Exchange Program Act

Congress would let NASA swap staff with private companies, with conflict-of-interest safeguards

Jan 15·View on Congress.gov·Read full text

This bill is one vehicle in a longer effort. See the full story across every version.View effort →

Next up: A senate committeeNo action in 6 months

A senate committee must act next: committee consideration.

Legislative Progress

Senate

House

President

Law

How we got here

This bill’s path across every version that has carried it.

Reintroduced
Reintroduced from S. 3488 (118th), which died when its Congress ended.
S. 3488 (118th) →

Key Points

Lets NASA temporarily swap workers with private companies, if the worker and company both agree.
Assignments must be in writing and last at least 90 days and up to 2 years, with possible renewal up to 4 years total.
If a NASA employee goes to a company, they must come back and work for the federal government for twice as long as the assignment.
Sets guardrails to reduce unfair advantages, like banning misuse of draft NASA budgeting or contracting info and requiring NASA to manage conflicts of interest.
Private-sector workers placed at NASA keep their company pay, can’t do core government-only jobs, and NASA must report yearly to Congress on how the program is used.

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Impact Analysis

Personal Impact

How this policy affects specific groups of people

Mixed Impacts(1)

Federal Employee

Neutral

Milestones

2 milestones2 actions

Jan 15, 2026Senate

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.

Sent to a congressional committee for expert review. The committee decides whether this bill moves forward.

Jan 15, 2026

Introduced in Senate

The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.

Related News

3 articles

Senator Andy Kim (Press Release)·Jan 15

Senators Kim, Wicker, Padilla, Cornyn Lead Bill to Drive Innovation and Partnerships between NASA and Space Industry

Announces introduction of the NASA Talent Exchange Program Act to create a Public Private Talent Exchange Program at NASA, enabling temporary assignments between NASA and private-sector entities with guardrails.

Senator John Cornyn (News/Press Release)·Jan 15

Cornyn, Kim, Wicker, Padilla Lead Bill to Drive Innovation and Partnerships between NASA and Space Industry

Statement on introducing the NASA Talent Exchange Program Act and creating a NASA public-private talent exchange program to deepen collaboration with commercial space industry.

Senator Alex Padilla (Press Release)·Jan 16

Padilla, Kim, Wicker, Cornyn Lead Bipartisan Bill to Drive Innovation and Strengthen Partnerships Between NASA and Space Industry

Press release describing the NASA Talent Exchange Program Act’s proposed Public Private Talent Exchange Program and how it aims to expand NASA-industry collaboration while addressing conflicts of interest.

No votes or related bills recorded for this bill yet.