Understanding What NASA's FY 2017 Budget Numbers Really Mean

Senate Appropriators Approve $19.3 Billion for NASA for FY2017, SpacePolicyOnline
“NASA displays its budget request as the combination of the three — $19.025 billion — and breaks down the request for individual accounts like science, aeronautics, and space technology accordingly. The $100 million from the oil company tax was designated entirely for aeronautics, for example, so NASA’s budget chart shows the aeronautics request as $790.4 million, a sharp increase from the $640 million appropriated for the current year. Congress summarily rejected the Administration’s notion of taxing the oil companies, however, and appropriations committees have no authority over mandatory spending. From the Senate Appropriations Committee’s standpoint, therefore, the request was $18.262 billion. Throughout its report, the committee compares what it approved to that figure, not to the $19.025 billion that NASA displays. It therefore is very important to exercise care when reading the committee’s report because it may say that it provided more or less than “the request,” but that may not be obvious looking at NASA’s budget presentation.”