House discussion of exploration plan

The Houston Chronicle and UPI both report that several members of the House of Representatives, including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, spoke on the House floor Thursday to support the Vision for Space Exploration. SpaceRef has a transcript of the comments made by DeLay and others, taken from the Congressional Record; you can also get it directly from the Congressional Record, under item 76, “Advancing Frontiers of Science”. (There is also a separate one-minute speech earlier in the day by Rep. Tom Feeney (R-FL), which is item 50 on the list, “Bipartisan American Vision for Leadership in Space”.)

Skimming through the transcript, you’ll see that while a lot of words were spoken, very little was really said. Most of the comments pointed to the benefits (real or perceived) that the space program offers in terms of education, spinoffs, and the like. In fact, the members who spoke spent little time addressing the specifics of the Vision for Space Exploration itself. While members who spoke included both Republicans and Democrats, they were almost entirely from districts in and around KSC, JSC, and MSFC. (Lamar Smith, whose district is in central Texas, and Ken Calvert of southern California were the notable exceptions.) What neither of the press reports state is how many other members of the House were present for the speeches: given that there were no votes scheduled for that time, I suspect many, if not most, other members were in committee hearings or on other business.