The Office of Management and Budget published a “Statement of Administration Policy” (SAP) on HR 2862, the appropriations bill that includes NASA. The SAP is effectively the administration’s response to what the House and Senate appropriations committees have done to date on the legislation, identifying changes the administration would like to see.
Regarding NASA, the administration is largely happy with what Congress has done to date, but does have some problems with the legislation. In particular, OMB “strongly objects” to nearly $600 million in earmarks, including $220 million for a future Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. Those earmarks “would significantly reduce the resources needed for critical ongoing and planned science and technology efforts.”
The SAP also criticized the Senate for zeroing out two small but relatively high-profile NASA programs, Centennial Challenges and ISS crew/cargo services. The Senate Appropriations Committee report explained that the latter received no money because it had not spent any of the $98 million appropriated for it in 2005, while its opposition to Centennial Challenges was because “NASA is asking for a lump sum of funds for the Centennial Challenges program and only then will NASA identify the challenges and assign prize levels for completion.”
Another resaon why NASA is failing: affirmative action and politcal patronage hires.
Shana Dale Will Become Deputy Administrator
White House Personnel Announcement
“The President intends to nominate Shana L. Dale, of Georgia, to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.”
Editor’s earlier note: According to NASA and Congressional sources, Shana Dale will be nominated by President Bush to be the Deputy Administrator of NASA. This announcement is expected very soon. Shana Dale is Chief of Staff of OSTP and is also chair of the Homeland Security Council. Prior to working at OSTP she was staff director of the House Science Committee.
http://www.nasawatch.com
… The President intends to nominate Shana L. Dale, of Georgia, to be Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Ms. Dale currently serves as the Deputy Director for Homeland and National Security at the United States Office of Science and Technology Policy. She previously served as the Chief of Staff and General Counsel at OSTP. Prior to that, she served as Assistant Vice Chancellor for Federal Relations for the University of Texas System. Earlier in her career, Ms. Dale served as Staff Director for the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee of the House Committee on Science. Additionally, she served as Republican Counsel for both the Space and Science Subcommittees of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. ( Just the kind of person to supervise NASA engineers and scientists — a lady lawyer. ) She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Tulsa and her JD from California Western School of Law. ( Is that an accredit5ed law school, or one of those correspondence course degree mills?
That’s “accredited” law school.
I might add that Shana Dale, J.D., seems like just the kind of manager who would be a perfect fit at FEMA.
Gee David, why don’t you just post the complete text of everything I post at NASA Watch on spacepolitics.com? You don’t even have the courtesy to link to the original post. BTW when you post complete original articles i.e. even my editor’s note – you are committing copyright infringment. Please stop.
I think we should dump the Hubble…
Mr. Davenport’s comments are sexist (suggesting that Dale got her job because she is a female), and demonstrate his lack of knowledge about Dale.
Shana Dale’s nomination is good news. Her understanding of the President’s desires, and her background in space policy — both on the Hill and the White House — will serve us well in executing on the President’s VSE. When Dale was on the Hill she created new policy that has much similarity to the President’s VSE. For example, the Commercial Space Act of 1998 — which requires that NASA buy “commercial space transportation services”, was passed into law during her tenure as Staff Director of the House Subcommittee on Space & Aeronautics. This law is the direct ancestor of the President’s VSE policy that calls for procuring ISS cargo delivery services from U.S. commercial firms.
The fact is “you hire teams” not individuals. The Administrator is a premier quality space engineer, so another engineer was not needed. In this case, the President is nominating an expert in space policy in a specific area that is important to the President’s VSE. Griffin’s and Dale’s knowledge and capabilities compliment each other well.
– Charles
If you make a statement regarding dissatisfaction with NASA’s practice of promoting people of a certain gender, you’re sexist, but the policy itself is what, gender neutral? Such a curious world we live in. Don’t you just love the double-speak?
… The fact is “you hire teams” not individuals.
That sounds like code words for affirmative action hiring.
… The Administrator is a premier quality space engineer, so another engineer was not needed.
PREMIER. You said the “Easter Egg” word! A PREMIER quality space engineer, supported by PREMIER non-profit space interest organizations.
If NASA has so many effing PREMIER space engineers, why can’t those PREMIER talents fix the External Tanks, given two years and billions of $?
… In this case, the President is nominating an expert in space policy
A lawyer and Washington apparachik whose expertise is in getting patronage jobs. Wonder who her husband is….
… in a specific area that is important to the President’s VSE.
Prez Bush has his own Vision for Space Exploration? Wow. When’s George Jr. going to share his dream quest with us?
The lesson is, if you want to be a NASA Associate Adminstrator when your grow up, and outrank scientists and engineers, don’t bother studying science and engineering and Bessel functions and partial differential equations, just go to some dingdong law school and get yourself politically well connected.
The world needs politicians, and business people too, if for no other reason than because the stuff they do is boring as hell to technical people. I, for one, am glad we have them. In the day, there was a track for technical people and a track for the business/politically oriented. It is unfortunate that we know so damn much better today that we waste the talents of good technical people on business and waste the talents of those good at business by putting them over technical people. That’s not Ms. Dale’s fault. Who knows, maybe she can do something to help straighten out the situation we’re in.
David,
You are sexist because you are suggesting candidate who is well qualified got the job because she is female and questioning the quality of her education at universities you know nothing about. If you are going to suggest that some one got their degree from a degree mill then you ought to do some research first.
If you think the job needs an engineer not a lawyer then you should not dwell on Ms. Dale’s gender but on her field of education and experience.