This is not a NASA Website. You might learn something. It's YOUR space agency. Get involved. Take it back. Make it work - for YOU.
Budget

Budget Update

By Keith Cowing
NASA Watch
November 21, 2004

20 November 2004: Roll Call of Senate and House votes

21 November 2004: NASA receives spending boost, Orlando Sentinel

“Lawmakers approved a massive budget package Saturday that includes $16.2 billion for NASA and gives the agency an unusual amount of flexibility in deciding how to spend the money. Backers of the space program, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and the White House, fought until the end of negotiations to secure more money for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.”

20 November 2004: Congress Fully Funds NASA – $16.2 Billion Funds Shuttle, ISS & Clears Way for Vision to Start, Rep. Dave Weldon

20 November 2004: NASA Excerpts from Legislative Text, Conference Report to Accompany HR 4818 Consolidated Appropriations Act 2005

20 November 2004: Congress Nears vote on $388 Billion Spending Bill, AP

“House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, helped win an extra $300 million for NASA, pushing the space agency’s total over $16 billion.”

17 November 2004: Editor’s note: On Wednesday Congress moved towards agreeing to provide NASA with $15.9 billion for FY 2005. The President had requested a 5.6% increase for NASA in FY 2005 over FY 2004 amounting to $16,244,000,000. [NASA Budget Information] The Senate had originally recommended $15,579,500,000for FY 2005 while the House had originally recommended $15,149,369,000.

18 November 2004: Senate backs increase in debt ceiling; hopes high for fast omnibus action, Government Executive

“The $4 billion in add-ons are spread across a number of accounts, the largest being $1.6 billion for programs funded by the VA-HUD bill. Most of that increase, some $800 million, is for NASA, a top administration priority, while the remainder is sprinkled throughout other programs.”

17 November 2004: Senate Votes to Let Government Borrow More, Washington Post

“There was strong pressure from the White House and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) to beef up the budget of NASA to finance a return to manned spaceflight and a mission to the Hubble space telescope.”

23 September 2004: NASA Excerpts from S. Rpt. 108-353; S. 2825, the Senate FY 2005 VA/HUD Appropriations Bill

10 September 2004: H Rpt 108-674 – VA/HUD Subcommittee’s report on HR 5041

15 November 2004: Omnibus negotiations pick up as lawmakers seek a deal, Government Executive

“Programs funded by the fiscal 2005 Labor-HHS appropriations bill would receive about $1 billion more, while veterans’ medical care would see an additional $1.2 billion and NASA another $800 million.”

18 November 2004: NASA’s bid to fly shuttle runs into budget reality in Congress, Orlando Sentinel

“I’m not feeling comfortable at all,” [Sen. Bill] Nelson said. “I am very distressed when they start whacking jobs — which is exactly what I said they were going to do, start whacking jobs at Kennedy Space Center.” The White House, Nelson said, must support its budget at a level of $16.2 billion, plus the additional cost of returning to flight.”

17 November 2004: Bush vows veto for plans with too much or too little, Houston Chronicle

“As negotiations continue on a massive budget bill for fiscal 2005, the White House sent a letter Wednesday to Capitol Hill, threatening to veto any bill that gives too little, or too much, to NASA.”


15 November 2004: Moon, Mars funds at risk, Florida Today

“They still have to be convinced (NASA officials) have a plan to spend money wisely,” said Allen, who sits on a Senate committee that oversees NASA policy. In the funding bill senators approved, they said NASA’s proposal for a new space vehicle for moon and Mars missions “resembles a work in progress rather than a firm definition of what is necessary.”

15 November 2004: Congress returns to hash out budget, Houston Chronicle

“The president and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Sugar Land, insist that is the minimum amount required if NASA is to stay on schedule for getting its grounded shuttle fleet flying again, for finishing construction of the international space station and for developing new spacecraft to return to the moon and push on toward Mars.”

12 November 2004: Omnibus negotiations on the move, but no agreement yet, Government Executive

“On top of congressional priorities such as education and healthcare funds, the administration was likely to receive close to its full requests for additional NASA and Millennium Challenge Account funds. The House bill would have cut about $1.1 billion from the White House request for NASA and $1.25 billion for the Millennium Challenge program, a new foreign aid program initiated by the administration.”

10 November 2004: AIP FYI #145: First Things First: Congress Attempts to Wrap-Up FY 2005 Budget Bills

“The FY 2005 VA, HUD, and Independent Agencies bill is very problematic. In order to get the Senate bill out of committee, appropriators designated $2 billion as “emergency” spending for VA health care and NASA, money that did not count against the spending cap. An additional $2 billion in HUD funding was shuffled around the spending ceiling.”

NASA Watch founder, Explorers Club Fellow, ex-NASA, Away Teams, Journalist, Space & Astrobiology, Lapsed climber.