Congress, NASA

Congressman claims JSC employees support shutdown

While the Johnson Space Center (JSC) had the most employees excepted from furlough of any NASA center, most NASA employees there still have been furloughed: about 95%, according to a memo detailing NASA’s shutdown plans issued in late September. Nonetheless, the congressman whose district includes the center claims that most JSC employees that have contacted his office support the shutdown that, for the time being, leaves them out of work and without pay.

“Our calls from JSC employees tjhis [sic] week are about nine to one in favor of standing strong against Obama’s budget,” said Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) in a release issued Monday by his office. (The release contained several typos, perhaps the result of furloughs of the congressman’s own staff.) “With a wife who is a JSC employee I know better than most how important full NASA funding is and how many hits JSC employee [sic] have taken under Obama.”

Most of the release details Stockman’s desire to “fully restore” NASA funding, particularly for JSC-related programs. “We get more return on NASA than nearly any other agency and we need expand out investment in it,” Stockman said in the statement. That includes “working to overturn Obama’s closure of JSC’s arc-jet facility, restore manned space flight, increase NASA’s budget, extend use of the International Space Station to at least 2028, restore Mars missions and expand planetary probes,” according to the statement. He does not detail how much these efforts would cost, or how he would pay for them.

31 comments to Congressman claims JSC employees support shutdown

  • DCSCA

    “Our calls from JSC employees tjhis [sic] week are about nine to one in favor of standing strong against Obama’s budget,” said Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) in a release issued Monday by his office.”

    GOP spin of course, given the government shutdown was initiated to defund ‘Obamacare’ not as a “strong stand’ against Obama’s budget.”

    Furthermore, it’s peculiar for a GOP Congessman embrace government employee furloughs now voted retroactive pay, in effect, paying them salaries for time not working.

  • Jeff Foust wrote:

    The release contained several typos, perhaps the result of furloughs of the congressman’s own staff.

    ROTFLMAO … :-)

  • Coastal Ron

    Besides being a huge bit of partisan yakking, it does provide a glimpse into how this Congressman would vote when the topic of extending the ISS comes up.

    Of course it’s not clear he even understands that JSC supports “manned space flight” today, since he say’s it needs to be restored. So if he does know we have humans in space, maybe he doesn’t understand why we do. Either way, despite his ignorance, I think we can count on him to support extending the ISS.

    As for JSC’s arc-jet facility, and all the other things he thinks NASA should be doing, maybe he should remember that his party is the one that’s been cutting NASA’s budget, whereas Obama actually asked for an increase.

    Bottom line this just shows how much politics and pork play in NASA. I guess we’re lucky something positive and useful happens…

  • Mark R. Whittington

    It actually makes a lot of sense. Obama is not a very popular person among NASA rank and file, especially at JSC. A lot of them are politically conservative as well.

    • Dark Blue Nine

      “Obama is not a very popular person among NASA rank and file”

      This is an idiotic argument. Government employees are going to spite the President by refusing their paychecks? Really?

      “A lot of them are politically conservative”

      Based on what data? Your imagination?

      • Justin Kugler

        I have to agree with Mark to a limited extent on this one. As a GLBT ally, I’ve heard some horrifying stories about how openly gay employees are treated in some offices and I know that the previous center director was castigated in his own office by some employees for “defying God’s will” by supporting GLBT Awareness Month.

        It may be a self-selecting echo chamber, but I don’t doubt that the JSC employees who would take the time to call Stockman also consider themselves Tea Party Republicans.

    • DCSCA

      “A lot of them [NASA personnel] are politically conservative as well.” muses Mark.

      Conservative engineering does not necessarily translate into conservative politics, Mark. A quick review of NASA’s golden age, when the agency made its bones, reveals that Congressional conservative politicians were decidely opposed to funding increases for NASA. It’s all in the Congressional Record. In fact, ultra conservative GOP presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, the darling grandfather of the modern conservative movement- championed by Ronald Reagan no less- voiced opposition to the JFK/LBJ Apollo initiatives in his famed ‘extremism is no vice’ Cow Palace acceptance speech in 1964 although it was lost in the smoke of the more fiery rhetoric.

      What is more likely is NASA employees embrace those actively seeking policies to increase funding for the agency, which makes them blow with the prevailing political winds. And lest you be reminded, hard right politicos like Newt Gingrich, ‘Moon President’ – as lampooned by SNL – stated some years ago that NASA should have been dissolved after Apollo ended– yet chattered on about moon bases to Florida voters in his presidential primary run.

      Accordingly, it is no surprise that goal-oriented agency personnel, disheartened and disgruntled at the Bush decision to end shuttle and the Obama decision to shelve Constellation, see no future- short term- in Obama space policy. HRC is another matter. She has an interest in HSF. Obama does not. Which is why his Project Lasso will follow Constellation on to the shelf nect to Constellation by January 21, 2017.

  • amightywind

    What’s so strange? One would imagine that the average KSC employee’s political alignment is similar to someone who works at a military base. They understand the important battle the GOP wages for fiscal responsibility and to repulse socialism. These people are nothing like the NASA scientists, that’s for sure.

  • sch220

    The shutdown has been great. With passage of the retroactive pay for federal employees, this is nothing but a paid vacation for federal employees. This definitely makes up for the pay freezes and elimination of bonuses we’ve seen over the last year or two. Thank you, Tea Party. You definitely have my vote, as long as you keep up the fight! LOL!!

    • Hiram

      Well, it’s a “stay-cation”, really. I don’t think any federal employees are going to take off on a cruise while on indefinite furlough. But we the taxpayer have made a serious investment in honey-do accomplishments in the homes of civil service employees. Let’s all be proud of that.

      Let’s be clear. The idea that civil service employees support such a shutdown, where they get paid to stay at home, is hardly surprising. You’d think that Mr. Stockman would have figured that out though, with staff furloughs, he may be especially wisdom-challenged.

      “We get more return on NASA than nearly any other agency …”

      Is this guy writing jokes for Leno?

      • Hiram wrote:

        Well, it’s a “stay-cation”, really. I don’t think any federal employees are going to take off on a cruise while on indefinite furlough. But we the taxpayer have made a serious investment in honey-do accomplishments in the homes of civil service employees. Let’s all be proud of that.

        Please don’t overlook we NASA contractors who will not have our income replaced once the furlough is over. I’m already out about $500.

        • Coastal Ron

          Stephen C. Smith said:

          Please don’t overlook we NASA contractors who will not have our income replaced once the furlough is over.

          I have a friend that works for a large government contractor, and he has had his hours cut by 40%. At least he’s still working, but because he is indirect labor, he still has to support the same direct labor work that normally took him 40 hours per week.

          And my niece needs a copy of your Social Security card to show for her new job, but the Social Security office is closed. It’s not just GOVERNMENT related contractors and their employees that are hurting. The private sector is affected, as well as people that rely upon the government for services.

          What a mess the Tea Party has made…

          • We were going to take a vacation in November — to D.C., ironically — but decided to cancel because of the income I’ve lost this month.

            I call, email and tweet Rep. Posey’s office but I know he doesn’t give a damn. He was one of the loonies who signed on to the letter urging that the government be shut down.

            Fun fact … Five thousand KSC contract workers are without income now thanks to Posey. But most of them will probably vote for him because this is Tea Party Central. The same type of people who believe Stockman’s drivel.

          • DCSCA

            There’s a delicious irony seeing NewSpace advocates whining about government space furloughs affecting their businesses and finances and even personal vacation plans. Seems NewSpacers hell-bent on wrecking government space ops need government space after all.

            Biting the hand that feeds you isn’t very smart.

        • MrEarl

          Well I’m a contractor for the National Archives and I’m out 8 days pay right now with no reinbursment and no end in sight. A pox on all of them.

  • Dark Blue Nine

    And in the continuing parade of senile House representatives saying crazy things about NASA:

    “Frank Wolf Dumps on NASA For Doing What He Told Them To Do”

    http://nasawatch.com/archives/2013/10/frank-wolf-dump.html

  • CharlesHouston

    Another nonsense statement from Rep Stockman. As a guy who’s wife works at JSC, she now has some unplanned vacation that we really cannot use effectively. Also we know that when they go back to work they will be under great pressure to make up all of this lost time. This enforced (paid) break will be followed by a unneeded rush to catch up.

    But on the subject of this failure to pass a budget, most Americans are sensible enough to realize that we cannot shut down the government over a single issue. Especially one that is a law passed already. If we are going to negotiate, let’s also negotiate bringing back the assault weapons ban, negotiate immigration reform, negotiate increased school lunch programs, etc. If we can hold the budget hostage over issues that have already been settled through the legislative process, we can open up every issue.

  • Coastal Ron

    Aviation Week has an article called “NASA’s Texas Contractors Face Steep Drop-Off” that focuses on JSC. From the article:

    Twenty percent of Johnson’s contractor workforce had been furloughed as the second week of the shutdown began, but the numbers are expected to reach 60% by the end of October and 90% by mid-November if the shutdown continues, said Robert Mitchell, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership (Bahep), following an Oct. 8 meeting with representatives from nearly half of the 53 aerospace companies in the area.

    And:

    People don’t understand the impact this is having. They don’t understand the impact this is having on the contractor community — the big guys and the little guys,” he [Robert Mitchell] said. “They don’t understand the contractor community is different than federal civil servants.

    Congressman Steve Stockman may enjoy his wife having some unplanned vacation time, but that doesn’t appear a sentiment shared by the actual businesses that are losing revenue due to the shutdown.

    There was a recent BusinessWeek article stating that the Republican party is no longer the “The Party For Business”, and this certainly is one of the reasons why. And it makes sense when you look at it, since the Tea Party is not business oriented, but very libertarian, and libertarians have an anti-big business bias to them.

    I think the sane side of the Republican party is going to put a stop to this soon…

    • common sense

      “I think the sane side of the Republican party is going to put a stop to this soon…”

      There is a “sane” side in the Republican party?

      Well, darm, it’s been hiding well since the days of Rove and GWB.

      Where is Joe-Six-Pack when we need him, uh?

      • Coastal Ron

        common sense said:

        There is a “sane” side in the Republican party?

        Sometimes called “RINO’s” today, and in the old days “politicians that got things done”. Unfortunately there aren’t as many around as the country needs. I enjoy and encourage competition in business, and in politics as well, so I can’t wait for this “phase” of electing people unfit for public duty to end.

        All the Tea Party knows how to do so far is destroy… I haven’t seen them build anything of value yet. That’s why many people view them as the political equivalent of two-year olds…

        • amightywind

          The release contained several typos, perhaps the result of furloughs of the congressman’s own staff

          Although unthinkable to the effete leftist Washington cabal, maybe it is worth a few more typos in the paperwork of the bureaucracy to have less expensive government.

          All the Tea Party knows how to do so far is destroy

          The shutdown is going splendidly for the GOP thanks to our Tea Party heros. Obama’s approval rating is down to 37% on the Park Service thuggery and the Defense Department’s spiking of KIA benefits. There will be hearings.

          • Coastal Ron

            amightywind said:

            There will be hearings.

            On what? Congress’s lack of ability to send a funding bill to the President so he could either sign it or veto it?

            Sometimes I wonder if you paid someone else to take your civics exam in school… ;-)

          • Vladislaw

            NOT according to Rasmussen:

            Heads Up GOP: Rasmussen Has President Obama’s Approval Ratings Rising to 51%

            “As Republicans search for new ways to cave on their attempt to take the country hostage and call it winning, Rasmussen (pollster to the Republican stars) has President Obama’s approval rating on the rise at levels not seen since last spring. Obama currently has a 51% approval rating per Thursday’s Presidential tracking poll.”

            And Gallop is saying that republicans are getting killed in the polls:

            Republican Party Favorability Sinks to Record Low – Falls 10 percentage points from September’s 38%

            “WASHINGTON, D.C. — With the Republican-controlled House of Representatives engaged in a tense, government-shuttering budgetary standoff against a Democratic president and Senate, the Republican Party is now viewed favorably by 28% of Americans, down from 38% in September. This is the lowest favorable rating measured for either party since Gallup began asking this question in 1992.”

            blowing wind again….

        • common sense

          Sorry but an organization that lets a minority dictates their policies by a minority of uneducated imbeciles is not a “sane” organization. No matter how you go about it. It is just an organization that reflects their disarray and favoritism of individual interests rather than the greater good of said organization.

          I can’t wait for the next elections. On the other hand some of those who oppose Obamacare are in favor of the Affordable Care Act.

          Therefore I won’t hold my breath until sanity is restored.

    • Egad

      They don’t understand the impact this is having on the contractor community — the big guys and the little guys,

      Not a problem, I’m sure that China will be there for NASA after the American contractors have been forced to find another way to make a living. Mr Wolf might not like it though.

  • DCSCA

    FWIW, CBS News led its broadcast w/NASA Ames workers protetesting outside the center demanding to go basck to work.

  • guest

    NBC highlighted that one impact of the shut down on the public is the loss of a nine year old’s favorite website-NASA. If anyone has not noticed, NBC’s evening anchor, Brian Williams is a very pro-space supporter and most newscasts feature at least a brief NASA story.

    • DCSCA

      At the nat’l network level CBS’s Pelley and NBC’s Williams do make an effort to inject space related stories– msnaging editors carry weight. ABC’s Sawyer does not– m0re fluff from her. In fact, you’ll notice ABC usually incorporates an entertainment piece after the 12 minute block of hard news– [that’s the Disney management input BTW.] The fundamental constraint for all three i time– 22 minutes, tops– so a three minute package is a gift.

      More interesting, Williams and Pelley come at space from different angles. Williams has a historic bent while Pelley, who covered space for a time, comes at it more from experience-kindled interest and contacts covering that beat. [There’s a touch of the Cronkit in him BTW.] Years ago, memoed internally to use HST imagery as wallpaper while end-crdits rolled on Friday-only broadcast feeds. No interest in the Rather/Brokaw era– neither of whom had much personal interest in spaceflight beyond what their job required them to have.

  • vulture4

    What? Civil servants being paid for not working? Wait a minute… why is that unusual?

  • vulture4

    More seriously, I have definitely felt the atmosphere of political conservatism at JSC. I have met people who consistently blame Obama for the difficulties with SLS/Orion and assume a Republican president would provide the vast sums of money needed for Constellation. In reality the Obama administration has consistently requested more funding for NASA than Republicans in Congress have been willing to provide. Unfortunately most people today are unwilling to use critical thinking when it means questioning their own political biases.

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