Moving Discovery was the goal of legislation brought earlier this year by Texas Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, who said in April that Houston's long ties to the space program should have been recognized with a space shuttle when four were retired by NASA in 2010.

Texas Republicans were divided but ultimately pivotal in helping President Donald Trump’s "Big Beautiful" Bill clear the U.S. House on Thursday. The bill passed in a narrow 218–214 vote, and despite vocal criticism from within the Texas GOP delegation, all 25 Texas Republican representatives—and both senators—voted in favor.

President Trump brought pomp and circumstance to his signing of the "big, beautiful bill" on Friday, with an Independence Day ceremony at the White House that included a B-2 bomber flyover. Some Republican members of Congress who voted to pass the legislation attended the event in which the president put his signature on his sweeping domestic policy bill.