NASA Fans: Get Ready for Lean Budgets

Election Adds To Space Policy Uncertainty, Aviation Week
“Unless the post-election lame duck session – controlled by the outgoing Democratic majority – finds a way to fund the STS-135 mission, it will be a tempting cash cow next January as the Republican majority looks for ways to match their belt-tightening campaign rhetoric with legislative action.”
Space News Asks the Experts
“Marcia Smith, founder and editor, Spacepolicyonline.com: The Republican takeover of the House is not good news for NASA. It’s not that Republicans don’t like NASA. As far as I can tell, just about everyone in the United States loves NASA. But they love NASA more in good economic times than in bad, and these are really bad economic times. The message from the election is not just that America is angry at Washington, but that Bill Clinton is still correct — it’s the economy, stupid.
Bill Adkins, principal, Center for Space Strategic Studies: Presumptive House Speaker John Boehner proposed during the campaign to roll back federal spending to 2008 levels. In previous years, NASA’s budget has been spared from budget freezes while other non-defense agencies have seen their budgets flat-lined, but the game is changing. The current FY11 budget may be NASA’s high-water mark for a while.”
GOP to gain control of NASA oversight, UPI
“Wolf is the ranking member of the powerful House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, and Science and Subcommittee, which oversees NASA spending, and will likely assume the panel’s chairmanship come January. He has been a vocal critic of Obama’s plans for NASA, claiming the president is effectively ceding U.S. leadership in space.”