Congress and NASA's Budget

US science agencies face budget limbo, Nature.com
“Another year, another round of budget roulette for US science agencies. When Congress returns from its summer break on 6 September, it will have just three weeks to pass a new government funding bill before the 2017 budget year begins on 1 October. … Policy analysts predict that lawmakers will pass a stopgap funding measure that will keep agencies’ budgets flat until the presidential election in November – and perhaps into next year. The House spending bill for NASA includes an extra $200 million for the agency’s planetary-science programme compared with the current level, whereas the Senate has proposed cutting the programme’s budget by about $300 million.”