Congress Reacts To New NASA Budget

In reacting to NASA’s new budget, House Science and Technology Chairman Bart Gordon said:

“At first blush it unfortunately appears to be a “business-as-usual” budget that does little to address the significant challenges NASA is facing. In short, it continues the Administration’s practice of underfunding the agency relative to the missions the agency has been asked to undertake. Thus, NASA’s aeronautics program is kept on a downward spiral despite congressional actions to the contrary, the agency’s technology programs remain in an anemic condition, and its science programs face an uncertain future as funds are shuffled from one science account to the next in order to free up funds for proposed new initiatives.”

“While those new initiatives may be laudable, the ability to sustain them under the Administration’s proposed budget plan is open to question. On the human spaceflight side, the situation is equally problematic, with no funds provided to accelerate the Crew Exploration Vehicle, no funding for Shuttle retirement and transition costs after 2010, and question-marks about the Administration’s commitment to the utilization and support of the International Space Station once the Shuttle is retired. The Committee will be taking a close look at the President’s NASA budget request in upcoming hearings as part of our preparations for reauthorizing NASA’s programs.”