Proposed House Budget Cuts Commercial Crew, R&D Funds

As the space shuttle Atlantis prepares for the program’s final flight amid much wailing about America abandoning its leadership role in space, the House Committee on Appropriations has released a spending plan for NASA that shows how much our elected leaders are will to pay to maintain that position. The answer: less than they’re spending now.

The spending plan cuts NASA spending back to 2008 levels with $16.8 billion, a reduction of $1.9 billion from the President’s request and $1.6 billion from the previous year’s budget. The budget increases funds for the Space Launch System and Multipurpose Crew Vehicle while making deep cuts in the President’s requests for commercial crew, space technology, exploration research and development, and science.
The proposal includes:

• More than $3 billion for the Space Launch System and Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, an increase of $237.8 million from the President’s request;
• $601 million for Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) and Exploration R&D, a reduction from the $1.149 billion requested by the Administration;
• $375 million for space technology, a reduction of $649 million from the requested amount;
• $4.5 billion for science, a reduction of nearly $513 million from the request;
• cancellation of the James Webb Space Telescope, which would have been funded at $354.6 million;
• $10 million to restart production of radioactive fuel required for deep space missions;
• $1 million for the Office of Inspector General “to commission a comprehensive independent assessment of NASA’s strategic direction and agency management”;and,
• a provision prohibiting NASA from cooperating with China in space without explicit Congressional approval.

Although the House measure does not specifically mention commercial crew, the overall intent is quite clear. Between the nearly $300 million reduction in the Exploration budget and the nearly $238 million increase for SLS and MPCV, the CCDev and Exploration R&D budgets are left with only $601 million to spend. The Administration has requested $850 million for CCDev alone and an additional $299.2 million for Exploration R&D.

A comparison of the two budget proposal is below.

What we have here are disconnections between House Republicans and the White House in several areas. The Administration wants to spend more money on space than the Republicans, who have other priorities such as deficit reduction and not raising taxes.

Second, there is a disconnect on how the U.S. will maintain its leadership in space. The House Republicans want traditional government owned and operated systems (MPCV, SLS), while the Administration is focused on a public-private partnership that places a greater emphasis on commercial space activities.

The result of the House plan will be very expensive systems that will keep lots of people employed but will provide little money to actually do much in space. Whereas the Administration’s approach is aimed at opening up space to the commercial sector, which might be able to actually make money up there.

Now, tell me, which group is the party of free enterprise?