Musk: Call Your Congressman on House Vote
SpacX Founder Elon Musk
Below is a plea from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk to call your Congressman to vote against the NASA budget, which comes up for a vote in the House on Friday.
Although I agree with him, an email appeal seems a bit odd given that Musk said nothing about this on The Colbert Report last night. This was an opportunity to appeal directly to the “average citizen” in whose name this plea is nominally being made. (It’s also being made in the names of Musk and SpaceX, who stand to gain substantially under the Obama Administration’s commercial space initiatives.)
While I’m on the topic of lost opportunities, I was at an ISU-SEDS-Singularity University dinner last week during the NewSpace 2010 conference. We had a long group discussion after the meal on space outreach and advocacy. I asked the 50 or so people there how many people had called their Congressman or done anything else to support the Obama budget over the last five months. All of five hands went up.
Well, now’s your chance. If you agree that the House bill is a disaster, please make a phone call and do whatever else you can. It may or may not make a difference, but you’ll get the satisfaction that you’ve fought the good fight.
Your Help Urgently Needed to Save the Future of Human Spaceflight
If you care about the future of American space exploration, your urgent help is necessary. The only hope for the average citizen to one day travel to space is in danger due to the actions of certain members of Congress. SpaceX does not have the enormous lobbying power of the big government contractors to stop them, however with your help the day can still be saved.
NASA’s Authorization bill (H.R. 5781) will be debated on the floor of the US House of Representatives tomorrow. Despite the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle, H.R. 5781 authorizes over five times as many taxpayer dollars to fly NASA astronauts on the Russian Soyuz than it invests in developing an American commercial alternative, moreover at a time when jobs are sorely needed in the United States. Quite simply, this bill represents the sort of senseless pork politics that has driven our national debt to the point where our economy can barely service it.
The bill is expected to be brought to the House floor this Friday under a special “suspension of the rules,†which is a procedure that limits debate and amendments.
Telephone your Congressional representative right away via the House Switchboard at (202) 225-3121 and ask them to vote NO on H.R. 5781, and instead support the bill unanimously agreed to in the Senate last week.
Your five minutes will make a critical difference, ensuring an exciting and inspiring future in space travel! SpaceX rarely asks you to take action, so you know it really matters when we do.
–Elon–
One response to “Musk: Call Your Congressman on House Vote”
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What’s up with you, Musk? One minute you are all hunky dory about the “compromise”, and the next day, you are flaming mad! Just when I thought you were a reasonable human being. I will call my congressman on the house vote and tell them to vote “yes” on H.R. 5781. Personally, I do like the senate’s version better, but I am tired of Mr. Musk changing his mind constantly. I have come to believe that the only thing he really wants is a big slice of pork (I am sure he has a different name for it, though). I thought Elon was perfectly content with the full Obama plan. I was surprised to hear him agree with the senate’s bill.
Finally, if your “private” industry has a good business model, then why on Earth do you need MY tax dollars to support it? I am already willing to help fund Ares/Constellation with my money. It actually makes sense!