Budget: April 2012 Archives

House Appropriations Commitee FY 2013: Commercial crew (excerpt)

"The Committee believes that many of these concerns would be addressed by an immediate downselect to a single competitor or, at most, the execution of a leader-follower paradigm in which NASA makes one large award to a main commercial partner and a second small award to a back-up partner. With fewer companies remaining in the program, NASA could reduce its annual budget needs for the program and fund other priorities like planetary science, human exploration or aeronautics research."

House Appropriations Commitee FY 2013: Planetary Science (excerpt)

"The Committee's recommendation of $1,400,000,000 seeks to address programmatic areas where the Administration's proposal is most deficient in meeting the decadal survey's goals while also ensuring that the program, as a whole, maintains balance among program elements."

Keith's note: According to tweets by Bill Adkins and Marcia Smith mark-up has been completed (with no changes to the NASA portions) and the bill will be the first appropriations bill sent to the House floor on 8 May 2012.

U.S. Astronomers Make Case for Science on Capitol Hill

"Fifteen members of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) are traveling to Washington, DC, April 24-25 to thank Congress for recent appropriations in the fiscal year 2013 spending bill and to express the need for continued federal funding of research and development (R&D) programs, which are critically important to American economic growth."

House Appropriations Committee Releases Fiscal Year 2013 Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Bill (NASA)

"National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) - NASA is funded at $17.6 billion in the bill, which is $226 million below fiscal year 2012 and $138 million below the President's request."

Fiscal Year 2013 Senate Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Subcommittee Mark (NASA Section)

"The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is funded at $19.4 billion, an increase of $1.6 billion over the fiscal year 2012 enacted level."

It's Tax Day -- Send in Your $.005 for NASA, Discovery

"I've always wondered why are we cutting it? Why aren't we doubling it? Even then, it wouldn't be a full percent of what our federal budget is. Double it and actually fund it so that you can work successfully toward starting and finishing something. All this starting and stopping stuff -- that's not an efficient way to go forward," she said."

At least double NASA's annual budget to one penny for every government dollar spent, We The People Petition

"Tomorrow is gone without NASA. Please at least double NASA's annual budget, and continue to support the most inspirational program in the country.

- SIGNATURES NEEDED BY APRIL 20, 2012 TO REACH GOAL OF 25,000
- TOTAL SIGNATURES ON THIS PETITION 25,687"

NASA budget might have less space for JPL's planetary science, LA Times

"U.S. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) has pledged to fight the cuts, and he grilled NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about the budget request last week at a meeting of a congressional science subcommittee. Schiff was joined by several Republicans, including Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas), who said NASA's planetary science program would not survive the proposed cut. "We're making intriguing progress in identifying the building blocks of life in other places," Schiff said in an interview. "To walk back from that and leave those questions unanswered means that we step back from potentially game-changing revelations about the origins of life in the universe, about our place in the cosmos. It's hard to put a price tag on that."

NASA budget might have less space for JPL's planetary science, Pasadena Sun

"President Obama's $17.7-billion budget request for NASA for the 2013 fiscal year includes a $300-million cut to planetary science, the very work JPL specializes in. That could mean a 20% reduction in NASA's planetary science budget and, at JPL, job losses in the hundreds."