Kent, as you are one of the leading suppliers of jingoism to the AvWeb forums, I defer to your instant recognition of it; pot meet kettle. But where in the world did you get the idea that politicians are experts in any technical field other than getting (re-)elected?
Given that fundamental raison-d’etre, what you are mistaking for hyper-nationalism (both here and abroad) is nothing more than nest-feathering. This announcement is from a representative of a state which has many aviation-related employers (who no doubt contributed to her getting the job) pushing a piece of legislation (no doubt crafted by representatives from said employers) that would drive more federal funds to said employers, current and potential, and (presumably) to their employees who elected her. “Follow the money.”
Kansas is a bright-red state that has spearheaded many, many such pieces of pork on its own behalf. Strange that you leap to such high dudgeon when its lone blue representative pushes something that would be good for aviation.
The operative word in the title is “coordination”. Frankly, anything that has a remote chance of improving the collaboration among the scrum of startups and governmental agencies flooding into this currently unregulated mode of transportation, has my “Sure, why the hell not?” approval.
I doubt that either of you are chopper pilots, but the current legislation undergoing FAA peristalsis will, for the first time, give the right-of-way to an unmanned aerial vehicle over a piloted one. Rotorcraft and UAV’s operate in the same uncontrolled airspace, yet the likelihood of a chopper pilot even seeing a drone before impact is nil. They will be nothing more than flying air-mines with the right-of-way. You want to get indignant over FAA stupidity, I’d suggest you direct your ire in that direction.