House Examines NASA FY 2007 Budget Request

Opening Statement by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert

“I am extremely uneasy about this budget, and I am in a quandary at this point about what to do about it. This budget is bad for space science, worse for earth science, perhaps worse still for aeronautics. It basically cuts or deemphasizes every forward looking, truly futuristic program of the agency to fund operational and development programs to enable us to do what we are already doing or have done before.”

Opening Statement by Rep. Ken Calvert

“… this leaves us with the Fiscal Year 2007 budget request for NASA. The Agency did receive a 3.2% increase over the FY 2006 — or a 1.5% increase when including Katrina funding in Fiscal Year 2006 — it is not enough to fully fund all the sectors of the Agency as everyone on this dais would like to see them budgeted.”

Opening Statement by Rep. Bart Gordon

“… the simple fact is that in the two years since the exploration initiative was announced, the Administration has never sent a budget request to Congress equal to what it said NASA would need to carry out the exploration initiative and NASA’s other programs.”

Opening Statement by Rep. Mark Udall

“The “not-so-good” news is that this budget request contains cuts and cancellations that will do real damage both in the near term and for years to come.”

ELMS White Paper: Comment and Endorsement of the NRC “Review of NASA Plans for the International Space Station” (entered into the record at the request of Rep. Udall)

“We agree with the NRC that NASA is prematurely abandoning the ISS and that these decisions add significant risk to the Exploration Vision. We understand the pressures for Shuttle replacement, but we also understand the need to balance long-term risks of the Exploration Vision with these short-term needs.”