Congress « Space Politics

Senate appropriations for NASA closely tracks the House

By Jeff Foust on 2014 June 4 at 6:36 am ET

In a brief markup session Tuesday morning, a Senate Appropriations Committee subcommittee approved a funding bill that would give NASA $17.9 billion in fiscal year 2015, including boosting funding for science and the Space Launch System.

“We were very disappointed in the President’s request,” Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), chairwoman of both the full appropriations committee […]

NASA budget debate shifts to the Senate

By Jeff Foust on 2014 June 1 at 8:21 am ET

The House of Representatives passed HR 4660, the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill late Thursday night on a 321-87 vote. While dozens of amendments to the bill were proposed in the floor debate, which started Wednesday evening, few of those addressed NASA (the Census Bureau, oddly enough, was far more frequently targeted for […]

The Planetary Society offers a stronger endorsement of ARM

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 29 at 1:11 pm ET

Last year, The Planetary Society announced a “conditional” endorsement of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (AMR), calling it an “intriguing idea” but arguing that it needed to know more details about the concept. “The Planetary Society is concerned that the detailed goals, costs, and implementation plan for this asteroid mission are not yet well defined,” it […]

As House debates spending bill, administration calls for more commercial crew and space technology funding

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 29 at 9:29 am ET

The House of Representatives started deliberation Wednesday evening of the fiscal year 2015 Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill, HR 4660. So far, that debate has not led to any changes in provisions of the bill funding NASA; an amendment to cut NASA exploration spending by $10 million and transfer $8 million of it […]

Texas runoffs: Hall loses, Babin wins

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 28 at 6:16 am ET

Texas held several primary runoff elections on Tuesday, and two of the results had some space policy implications. In the 4th district, former House Science Committee chairman Ralph Hall lost a Republican party runoff to former US Attorney John Ratcliffe, 53 to 47 percent. Hall was chairman of the committee in 2011â€“2012, and served as […]

Senate defense bill offers mixed messages on RD-180 replacement, EELV competition

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 23 at 9:43 am ET

The Senate Armed Services Committee completed work this week in closed sessions on its version of the fiscal year 2015 National Defense Authorization Bill. While the full text of the bill is not yet available, members of the committee have provided some news about its contents, including provisions regarding development of a new large rocket […]

House and Senate making progress on NASA, commercial space bills

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 21 at 8:40 am ET

This week, the full House is taking up its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which includes some space-related provisions, such as authorizing funding for a domestic rocket engine to replace the RD-180. The Senate Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, is working on its own version of the NDAA this week in closed sessions. […]

House members press NASA for information on Russia crisis effects on ISS

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 15 at 3:54 pm ET

In a letter to NASA administrator Charles Bolden today, three key members of the House Science Committee asked for information on how threats by Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin regarding the future of the ISS would affect the agency’s plans.

In their letter, House Science Committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), space subcommittee chairman Steven […]

Nelson: we have “major decisions” to make soon on launch issues

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 15 at 2:25 am ET

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) spoke on the Senate floor for more than 15 minutes Wednesday afternoon to discuss the current effect of the Ukraine crisis on US-Russia space relations, including comments by Russian deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin on Tuesday regarding restrictions on the use of RD-180 engines and the life of the International Space […]

CJS spending bill passes full House appropriations committee

By Jeff Foust on 2014 May 9 at 3:23 pm ET

On Thursday, the full House Appropriations Committee marked up the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill that the CJS subcommittee approved last week. The full committee didn’t adopt any amendments that affected the NASA provisions in the bill, although Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) introduced, then withdrew, an amendment to add $85.5 million to NASA’s […]

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