Bill Nye to Attend Trump’s State of the Union Address

Bill Nye “The Science Guy” is headed to President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address with the president’s controversial nominee to lead NASA.

Nye on Thursday said in a statement that he is “pleased” to attend the speech with U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, a Republican from Oklahoma and Trump’s recently approved NASA head. Bridenstine also announced on Thursday that Nye will accompany him to Trump’s State of the Union address on Jan. 30.

Bridenstine has faced contentious Senate confirmation hearings over his past comments dismissing man-made causes for global warming. A U.S. Senate committee on Thursday narrowly approved Bridenstine’s nomination, pushing him closer to a final vote. Bridenstine earlier promised the panel to run the agency on a consensus agenda driven by science.

Nye said in a statement from Bridenstine’s office that he has enjoyed a “productive working relationship” with the congressman.

“At the State of the Union address, I hope to hear the president present plans for an ambitious, science-driven space exploration agenda,” said Nye. “Space exploration brings out the best in us. It brings the nation together as we solve problems that have never been solved before and learn more about the cosmos and our place within it.”

Nye has openly criticized Trump’s positions on science and the climate in the past, telling Time magazine last year that he hoped Trump’s administration was “the last gasp of the anti-science movement.” In August, CNN reported that Nye had responded to Trump’s 2012 tweet claiming that global warming was “created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” with the statement, “Dude, really?”

Nye’s show on Netflix, Bill Nye Saves the World, was renewed for a second season in July. He starred in the popular PBS science show Bill Nye the Science Guy in the 1990s and is now head of The Planetary Society advocacy organization.

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