Budget Thoughts

Too drastic – Our position: The cuts for NASA would seriously endanger the space effort, editorial, Orlando Sentinel

“NASA Administrator Michael Griffin has warned that his agency could lose much of its skilled work force if the interval between the shuttle’s retirement and Orion’s launch is too long. That’s what happened in the 1970s, when the agency hemorrhaged talent in the gap between the Apollo and shuttle programs. House Republicans are griping that they didn’t have any input into the stopgap spending plan. It’s hard to feel too sorry for them; their failure to pass a budget when they still had control on Capitol Hill opened the way for Democrats to put together their own plan reflecting their own priorities.”

Budget battles will get tougher, Huntsville Times

“An unfinished 2007 budget and the November election that put Congress under Democratic control have shuffled federal spending priorities. Over the past week, two major Huntsville programs were slashed by the House – $545 million from NASA’s return to the moon and $3 billion in Pentagon spending needed to move military work here as part of the 2005 BRAC plans.”