Comments on: Lampson and the HAT http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/05/26/lampson-and-the-hat/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=lampson-and-the-hat Because sometimes the most important orbit is the Beltway... Wed, 17 Sep 2014 13:35:41 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=4.0.38 By: Space Politics » The limited impact of NASA’s peccadilloes http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/05/26/lampson-and-the-hat/#comment-22244 Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:40:25 +0000 http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/05/26/lampson-and-the-hat/#comment-22244 […] have affected the budget, he said. But, of course, a lot of it did happen before mid-July. When I talked with Lampson at the ISDC in Dallas on Memorial Day weekend, the scandal du jour centered on NASA’s inspector general, which Lampson shrugged off. […]

]]> By: anonymous http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/05/26/lampson-and-the-hat/#comment-14685 Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:38:22 +0000 http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/05/26/lampson-and-the-hat/#comment-14685 Just to put a finer point and some numbers on this point, NASA must achieve a 7 percent increase in the FY 2008 budget currently before Congress to avoid further delaying the initial operability date for Ares I/Orion into 2016 or 2017 (or some other dramatic impact to other NASA programs).

But in the first year of the VSE, FY 2005, Congress only provided a 4 percent increase to the NASA topline. And that only happened with the personal intervention of a Congressman (Tom Delay) who, luckily for NASA at the time, happened to represent a NASA human space flight field center, and held a House leadership post, and also held a powerful position on the House Appropriations Committee. NASA has no such powerful protector in the Democratic-controlled Congress today.

Could NASA achieve a 7 percent increase in FY 2008? Possibly. But it’s not probable based on a history.

FWIW…

]]> By: anonymous http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/05/26/lampson-and-the-hat/#comment-14250 Sat, 26 May 2007 15:13:26 +0000 http://www.spacepolitics.com/2007/05/26/lampson-and-the-hat/#comment-14250 Although Lampson’s comments might suggest otherwise, the NASA HAT is not a new thing. The HAT was organized by one of Tom Delay’s staffers back in the early days of the VSE and the Republican majority. See pages 2-3 of this WIA speech by Griffin, where Griffin gives this staffer an award for her efforts:

http://209.85.165.104/search?q=cache:fA7gGFuoz7MJ:www1.nasa.gov/pdf/114279main_mg_wia_050305.pdf+%22House+Action+Team%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

Although it is hopeful to hear a NASA Congressman like Lampson actually talk about NASA program funding and internal lobbying efforts, the HAT has lost much of its power and effectiveness since Delay’s departure and the Democratic majority. Unless a Congressman with Delay’s appropriations stature is in the current NASA HAT membership, I suspect that the current NASA HAT will not produce the kind of budget achievements that we saw with the earlier NASA HAT, Delay, and O’Keefe during the early days of the VSE.

FWIW…

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