Congress Considers NASA Cutbacks

Congress Considers NASA Cutbacks

SpaceExploration Wednesday, July 21, 2004 . This is a SciScoop post by apsmith

Air Force veteran Jim Spellman writes:

Just goes to show the need for further searching of intelligent life in the Universe . . . you’re not going to find it in the halls of Congress.

FWIW — $15.1 billion for the U.S. taxpayer equates to roughly $1.06 a week or $55-$56 dollars a year. . .and as an Air Force veteran myself, I’d rather see the $2 billion package increase for veteran’s health care be funded from elsewhere. ~JS~

Some highlights from the FY05 VA-HUD appropriations bill being considered:

“NASA is funded at $15.1 billion, $229 million below last year and $1.1 billion below the request. The bulk of these savings come from the elimination of funding for new initiatives. The reductions include $30 million for technology maturation efforts; $230 million from Project Prometheus related to Jupiter Icy Moon Orbital; $438 million resulting from delaying the Crew Exploration Vehicle; and $100 million from Space Launch Initiatives by accelerating the termination of activities. The bill fully funds shuttle operations at the requested level of $4.3 billion. The committee fully funds Mars programs at the requested level of $691 million.”

The bill also eliminates $70 million that had been targeted to new robotic lunar exploration projects, likely delaying the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter project for at least a year.

A Florida Today article covers some of the politics behind this – the committee had a fixed overall budget to work within, and cutting $1.1 billion from the NASA request contributed to a $2 billion boost in veterans spending.

The same appropriations bill also covers the National Science Foundation, which also saw a (smaller) real dollar cut in money for FY 05.

5 Responses to Congress Considers NASA Cutbacks

jxliv7

July 21st, 2004 at 8:33 pm

.
…when I’m sorry to live in Texas. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) is living up to his name and reputation.

I must disagree with the “editorial” comment by this “Air Force veteran Jim Spellman” that it’s okay to cut veteran’s health care funding. Perhaps he retired from the Air Force and is drawing 50% of his base pay, in which case he wouldn’t qualify for VA health benefits (the VA is limiting new participants into the program if they make more than $25,000 per year). Perhaps he hasn’t realized the effects of Agent Orange or the Gulf War Illness (for vetrans of Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, and Iraqi Freedom).

There are other ways to allocate funding for NASA — one way is to re-prioritize the projects that are really, really useful: a replacement for the antique shuttles; a big space station; funding all the research pursuits that filter down and improve our lives. The biggest? cut the congressional pork… er, budget atrocities.

The best thing about what’s described in this article is that it’s a work in progress and could go any which way.

jon

apsmith

July 22nd, 2004 at 9:36 pm

The full House Appropriations committee appears to have accepted the VA-HUD plan from the subcommittee today, with no substantive changes. That still leaves the Senate and Tom Delay in the way of final numbers.

teece

July 23rd, 2004 at 1:32 am

This is now the reality of our budget situation. We are in debt, and going deeper in debt. Washington can only ignore that for so long before constituents begin to get nervous.

Now, there are really only 5 places to make substantial dents in our deficit:

Increase the money coming in, either through a booming economy or a tax increase. We’d love the former, but it is easier said than done. The latter is currently kryptonite to the Washington folks.
Cut military spending. You might as well ask for an alchemist to turn lead to gold
Cut Social Security. Technically a possibility — except that seniors vote, and will boot not only any politician, but his entire party, that so much as mentions this. Scratch that.
Cut Medicare/Medicaid. See item 3.
Skip interest payments. Do this, and the world will experience a financial crisis unlike any we have ever seen. The US gov’t defaulted on its debt! Nope, not gonna happen.

Every other penny of government spending is really chicken feed. Cuts like this to NASA are symbolic. But the symbolism is important — your image gets you elected in Washington, not your actual actions.

We have only more of this to look forward to.

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