NASA HQ to H-Town? Texas lawmakers among others urging Trump to make the move

HOUSTON - Texas lawmakers are leading the call for President Donald Trump to move NASA's headquarters to Space City itself.

Proposal: NASA headquarters to Houston

What we know:

On Tuesday, federal-level lawmakers from Texas issued a letter to President Trump with a proposal to move NASA's headquarters from Washington, D.C., to Houston.

The letter suggests that, once the lease for NASA's current headquarters expires in 2028, the headquarters could be moved to Houston's Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC).

Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Brian Babin - both chairmen of Congress' science committees - sent the letter with signatures from multiple congresspeople, most of them hailing from Texas.

Reasons for Houston, Texas as NASA's new HQ

What they're saying:

According to the letter, congresspeople believe moving NASA's headquarters to Texas would reconnect the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to its "core missions."

"As NASA’s leadership has languished in our nation’s capital, the core missions of this critical agency are more divided than ever before," the letter states. "This seismic disconnect between NASA’s headquarters and its missions has opened the door to bureaucratic micromanagement and an erosion of centers’ interdependence."

The letter goes on to list why some lawmakers believe Houston would be the best reconnecting point for NASA.

1. Houston's current ties to the aerospace business: "JSC in particular is the largest home of the NASA workforce, with more than 12,000 employees across its 1,620-acre facility and supporting more than 52,000 public and private jobs. As the pinnacle of human spaceflight development, Houston is home to Mission Control, the NASA astronaut corps, the Lunar Sample Laboratory Facility, commercial space agreements, and extensive research and development partnerships. JSC plays a role in nearly everything that makes America a leader in space exploration."
2. Houston's lower cost of living vs. D.C.: "Texas is the eighth largest economy in the world, with low government regulation and a strong business environment. Houston boasts a cost of living that is less than half that of the Washington, D.C. area ; three "R1: Doctoral Universities" producing the high caliber professionals necessary for human spaceflight; and two major commercial service airports for easy connectivity around the country."
3. Houston's geographic location: "A central location among NASA’s centers and the geographical center of the United States, Houston offers the ideal location for NASA to return to its core mission of space exploration and to do so at a substantially lower operating cost than in Washington, D.C."