Sen. Coburn's Staff Did Not Do Their Homework

Coburn claims court could KO conferences, Federal Times

“That result could prompt Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., to try to block other federal conferences, says Roland Foster, an aide to Coburn. Coburn has been a consistent critic of what he says is excessive spending on federal conferences. … He cited as an example last week’s Planetary Defense Conference 2007, partly funded by NASA, where the agency argued it needs more funding for its program to deflect asteroids headed toward Earth. Such calls, while permissible on Capitol Hill, amount to political lobbying that should be banned at federally funded conferences, according to Foster.”

Editor’s note: Perhaps if this over eager staffer were to have stopped waving his arms for a moment and actually done a little homework – such as reading NASA Authorization Act of 2005: Conference Report – he’d have learned that Congress directed NASA to conduct this NEO study and to make its findings public as well as deliver a report to Congress. NASA was simply following the law as set forth by Congress. Indeed, Congress has already made its mind up on this issue. Also, there are some people at NASA who were not totally thrilled about doing this study in the first place.