The full House approved the conference report on S.1281, the NASA authorization bill, late Saturday on a voice vote. SpaceRef reports that the Senate has yet to approve the conference report because Sen. Jim Talent (R-MO) has put a hold on the bill in an effort to convince NASA to spend much of the $25 million appropriated to hypersonics research in the FY2006 budget on the X-43C program. It’s unlikely this will permanently jeopardize passage of the report, and thus the bill, and since the Senate has no immediate plans to recess for the holidays a resolution may come sooner rather than later.
