The Senate Commerce Committee has approved a bipartisan bill that would authorize $19.5 billion in fiscal year 2017 funds to help NASA sustain space investments that seek to support space exploration programs.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said in a statement released Wednesday the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2016 would direct the space agency to continue development work on the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System, support human exploration of Mars as well as extend the use of the International Space Station through 2028.

The proposed legislation would also authorize NASA to support medical diagnosis, monitoring and treatment programs for health conditions related to human space flight.

The bipartisan bill would direct the space agency to support low-Earth orbit commercialization efforts to facilitate the expansion of U.S. commerce into space.

“It is my hope that Congress will pass this into law and the president will sign it before the end of the year,” Cruz said.

Cruz introduced the bill with Sens. Bill Nelson (D-Florida), Marco Rubio (R-Florida), Gary Peters (D-Michigan), Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi), Tom Udall (D-New Mexico), John Thune (R-South Dakota) and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington).

The White House has announced seven new initiatives as part of the Third Open Government National Action Plan that seeks to promote transparency, innovation and accountability in the government.

The White House said in a report released Tuesday two of the initiatives seek to support open contracting and promote transparency of the U.S. security sector assistance.

The U.S. government will work to convene government contracting professionals to collect feedback on their experiences with contracting data in support of the Open Contracting Data Standard.

The Small Business Administration and Treasury Department will also seek insights from small businesses on the types of contracting data they need.

The U.S. government also plans to build up transparency of U.S. security sector assistance through the Defense Department‘s participation in the self-assessment and peer review process as part of NATO’s Building Integrity Program, implementation of an interagency assessment and evaluation framework as well as development of additional anti-corruption measures.

Other initiatives include the government’s commitment to promote Internet connectivity, advance scientific partnerships on the Arctic and leverage data in support of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

A White House blog article posted Tuesday says that the Open Government Partnership has increased to 70 member countries that resulted in the release of over 130 national action plans that contain initiatives on public service delivery, anticorruption efforts, freedom of information and open data.

OGP also has conducted regional events in Africa, Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe and expanded to other subnational governments worldwide through a 15-city pilot program, according to the post by U.S. Chief Technology Officer Megan Smith and Cori Zarek, deputy CTO.

The Government Accountability Office has recommended the Department of Veterans Affairs establish procedures to record obligations in the procurement system and address the implementation of the contract liaison initiative.

A report GAO published Friday says the VA could make its multi-billion dollar procurement spending more effective and efficient in areas such as data systems, procurement policies and oversight, acquisition workforce and contract management.

GAO noted the VA’s “outdated and fragmented” procurement policy framework led to confusion in contract officers that did not know where to seek guidance on procurement regulation concerns and the agency has not implemented procedures to ensure obligations are recorded.

Auditor said that policies will help VA procure assets on behalf of veterans at an effective rate and achieve cost savings through applicable policy and regulation compliance in situations such as medical supply procurement.

VA has continued to revise its procurement regulation since 2011 and expects to complete a new procurement system in 2018, GAO noted.