The way to read an authorization bill is “If you can find the money, here are things that Congress thinks are really worth doing without completely breaking the bank.” It means that if the money can be found, those writing the checks can point to it as a formal sense of Congress that establishes what is good. It does that with some deeper thinking than the approps process can manage.

So the importance of authorization is that it defines Congressional policy in a way that approps cannot. It takes a hard look at strategy and value. Conversely, while appropriating money for things that have never been authorized is possible (e.g. earmarks), it’s not a credible long-term plan.

So yes, this bill could be setting groundwork for a larger NASA budget, but historically that hasn’t been the case. In fact, had the bill authorized just the amount that is currently being appropriated, it would be a real shocker.

frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=110_cong_bills&docid=f:s3182pcs.txt.pdf

Very much unlike the House Authorization bill, there are no provisions directing NASA to implement certain science or Space Shuttle missions, encourage commercial space, or much specific direction at all. About all I saw was an RIF restriction, a fairly weak restriction on moving money from one account to another (and I will refrain from sarcastic remarks about which accounts that would be), and this:

“Funds for announced prizes otherwise authorized shall remain available, without fiscal year limitation, until the prize is claimed or the offer is withdrawn. Funding shall not be made available for Centennial Challenges unless authorized.”

For comparison, I dug up the table I made comparing the Administration request and the House Authorization at

http://www.spacepolitics.com/2008/05/16/nasa-authorization-bill-text-available/#comments

and added the values from the Senate Appropriation bill. It looks like the various accounts other than IG and Operations were tweaked up a bit, but it’s very much like the Administration request. The only notable difference seems to be in what’s left of Aeronautics.

Administration House Authorization Senate Appropriations

Science 4,441.5 4,932.2 4,522.9
*Earth 1.367.5 1,518.0
*Planetary 1.334.2 1,483.0
*Astrophysics 1,162.5 1,290.4
*Heliophysics 577.3 640.8

Aeronautics 446.5 853.4 500.0

Exploration 3500.5 3,886.0 3,530.5
*Constellation 3,048.2 same?
*Advanced Capabilities 452.3 737.8
COTS D and ISS docking adaptors 0 100.0

Accelerate Ares/Orion 0 1000.0

Operations 5,774.7 6,074.7 5,774.7
*Shuttle 2,981.7 same?
*ISS 2,060.2 same?
*Support 732.8 same?
Shuttle AMS 0 150.0
augment ISS cargo services 0 100.0
SOMD reserves and transition/retirement 0 50.0

Education 115.6 128.3 130.0

Cross-Agency 3,299.9 3,299.9 3,320.4
*Center Mgmt 2,045.6 same?
*Agency Mgmt 945.6 same?
*Investments 308.7 same?

IG 35.5 35.5 35.5

Total 17,614.2 (1.8% increase) 19,210.0 (+ $1B ESAS add) 17,814

– Donald