If the House’s version of NASA’s budget passes, Administrator Charles Bolden would have 60 days to report back to Congress with five distinct strategies for the final stages of Commercial Crew Program.
Four strategies would be pegged to annual funding levels of $500 million to $800 million over three fiscal years. The fifth option would be one not previously considered that NASA believes is viable and will reduce overall costs.
Like House Republicans, Archie and Edith Bunker yearned for an earlier, simpler era that never really existed. Well, Archie more than Edith. And, at least he was very funny. Congress…not so much. (Credit: CBS Television)
“Boy the way Beatles played
Songs from Sgt. Pepper’s parade.
Guys like us we had it made,
Those were the days….”
By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor
In this edition of “Palazzopalooza: We’ll Bamboozle Ya!,” we look at how the House’s nostalgia for the past is preventing it from dealing with the realities of the present.
Today’s conservative Republicans are by far the most nostalgic of Americans. They yearn for a earlier, simpler time when America was a far more perfect union. Unfortunately, their visions are often rather selective, ignoring unpleasant realities of the past and the limitations of the present day.
This is, sadly, what we see in the NASA budget the House passed last week. Just how far in the past are Congressmen living? Decades.
Continuing our look at the House’s spending plan for NASA, this edition of “Palazzo Vision: $3 Billion is Not Enough” examines provisions that would prevent NASA from ever canceling the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion without prior Congressional approval while immediately freeing up hundreds of millions of dollars more to spend on the two programs.
Rep. Steven Palazzo
On Wednesday, the House Subcommittee on Space met under Chairman Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) to mark up NASA’s budget for FY 2014 and 2015.
The $16.6 billion measure not only cuts the Obama Administration’s request by $1.1 billion, it includes a number of provisions designed to tie the hands of the NASA Administrator, protect key projects favored by Congress, and shift power away from the Administration.
In this edition of “Palazzo Vision: The Road to Pork,” we take a closer look at what the chairman and his merry band of government hating, pork loving comrades want to do to NASA’s Space Act Agreements.
What lies after the break is not for anyone with a weak stomach, heart condition, chronic ulcers or who is under the age of 18. You have been warned.
Florida Senator Bill Nelson
There is some good news and some bad news about the NASA budget from Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL).
The good news is that the Senate version of it will likely be far more generous than the House version discussed last week.
The bad news is that Congress is so dysfunctional that the space agency’s spending will get caught up in a much larger dispute over raising the nation’s debt ceiling, as it did last year. That could once again delay budget decisions until the week between Christmas and the new year.
The House version of the budget would keep NASA’s spending for the next two years at $16.8 billion, which is what it received this year under the cuts mandated by sequestration. The Obama Administration has requested nearly $17.8 billion for NASA for FY 2014.
“Today, the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space held a hearing on the Majority’s recently released discussion draft of the NASA Authorization Act of 2013…
“Democratic Members expressed a number of concerns about the bill including that the bill cuts NASA’s overall budget while establishing new requirements and programs; it appears to change NASA’s core mission to one of supporting human spaceflight from the multi-mission approach NASA has had since its inception; the “go as we can afford to pay” requirement is inconsistent with the mandated milestones included in the legislation; the Earth science budget is cut by 1/3; there are aggressive goals such as requiring a commercial crew flight to the ISS by 2017, without any mention of safety requirements; and that there is a requirement to establish a “sustained human presence” on the Moon and Mars in spite of sequestration-level budgets.”
Read the full statement from the subcommittee’s Democratic members below.
House Space Subcommittee Chairman Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) outlined the House’s priorities in a prepared statement for today’s hear on the NASA Authorization Act of 2013. Key excerpts in italics follow, to which I have added editorial comments and emphasis,
Overall Spending Flat, Priorities the Same
“The draft bill includes a topline budget of over $16.8 billion dollars and authorizes the agency for two years. This budget is consistent with the requirements of the Budget Control Act.
“The Administration must focus on core programs such as the Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule, the International Space Station, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Commercial Crew Program.”
We’re going to take a closer look at the NASA budget that Senate and House conferees approved this week. As will see, Congress cares about little else but heavy-lift and the Orion MPCV when it comes to human spaceflight, commercial crew got slashed, the James Webb Telescope has lived to slip another day, and a crack has opened in the ban on cooperation with China.
