Obama Space Policy Still Ain't Playing Well in Florida

Obama’s plan to transform NASA in spotlight as Florida trip looms, Orlando Sentinel
“Lawmakers are threatening to file a congressional resolution in favor of Constellation, and several senators — including George LeMieux, R-Fla. — filed a bill last week aimed at preventing Obama from shutting down the program. While congressional critics have issues with the entire plan, it’s the $429 million requested for KSC in 2011 that appears to be especially vulnerable. Members of Congress privately complain that nobody at NASA or in the White House has been able to explain to them exactly what the money will be used for. KSC Director Bob Cabana has said repeatedly that Kennedy is a 1960s facility badly in need of modernization. But he has also said that NASA is still studying what a 21st-century launch center should look like and how to coordinate changes with the Air Force, which now runs commercial launches at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station outside the gates of KSC. That, he said, takes time. Lawmakers are unimpressed, with some claiming that the funds are nothing but a political payoff to Florida in an election year. They have been telling members of the aerospace industry in Florida not to hold out hopes for the money.”
Posey’s Fight To Save Space Jobs Continues, cfnews13.com
“Posey points back to when Obama was a presidential candidate and the promise he made during a campaign speech in Titusville in the fall of 2008. “You said you would close the gap between the space shuttle and Constellation,” Posey said. “And you would assure America would stay first in space. Right now he’s doing neither, and I’m hoping that’s going to change soon.” Posey said he will be at the April 15 summit whether he’s invited or not. “We have not received any notice at all from the president about the meeting,” Posey said. “We’ve written him. We’ve asked to be invited.”