Who's Worse For NASA: Democrats or Republicans?

Editor’s note: According to page 8 of the April 2008 Aviation Week ShowNews Briefing, AIA Space Systems VP J.P. Stevens says “It will be a battle if there is a Democratic administration”.

Let’s look at this a little more closely. Yes, Sen. Obama (D-IL) has indeed talked of drastic and unwarranted cuts to Project Constellation – and has said rather negative things about human spaceflight. But that’s about the only specificity we’ve heard from him. By stark contrast, Sen. Clinton (D-NY) seems to be outright supportive of NASA.

Yet it is Sen. McCain (R-AZ) who has proposed a freeze on discretionary spending (which includes NASA’s budget) which would amount to a cut (or non-growth) at a time when a number of NASA projects are depending upon budget increases.

And this would be set against a backdrop whereby the Bush Administration won’t lift a finger to prepare a budget for FY 2010 – leaving the incoming Administration to scramble to cobble one together between November 2008 and January 2009. This comes after the Bush administration walked away from the earlier financial commitments it had made for the implementation of the VSE.

If anything, in 2008, with the politics in play – and the history of the past few years before us, the Republicans seem more intent upon depriving NASA of needed budget funds – and have a proven track record of doing so.

Then again, only time will tell what will actually happen.