More concerns about commercial crew and Congressional language

Even before the House took up the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill last week, the administration warned that it considered the bill unacceptable, citing in a statement of administration policy concerns about the bill’s provisions, including the reduced funding levels and “restrictive report language” for NASA’s commercial crew program. This was widely communicated as […]

Updated NASA budget summary

Based on a comment yesterday about what the current House budget for NASA was in light of the floor debate this week on the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill, the table below summarizes the numbers from the President’s budget request (PBR); the House bill, HR 5326; and the Senate version, S. 2323, which […]

House passes CJS appropriations bill

As expected, the House passed on Thursday the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill largely along party lines, 247-163. After the series of amendments on Tuesday, including one that was approved that cut $126 million from NASA’s cross-agency support account, the remainder of the debate largely focused on other areas of the bill. Reps. […]

Appropriations amendment cuts $126 million from NASA

Members of the House of Representatives narrowly accepted an amendment late Tuesday night cutting NASA’s budget by $126 million. The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY), transferred $126 million from NASA’s Cross-Agency Support account to the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) program in the Department of Justice. The amendment passed 206-204, with 61 Republicans […]

White House criticizes commercial crew language and funding in House bill

The House is scheduled to start debate today on HR 5326, the Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill. (Depending on the number of amendments proposed, the bill may not be up for a final vote until Wednesday or Thursday.) Late yesterday, the White House issued a statement of administration policy (SAP) on the bill, outlining […]

Gingrich ends his campaign, but not his interest in space

On Wednesday, a little over three months after he briefly, if somewhat bizarrely, catapulted space policy to the front lines of the Republican presidential campaign, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich formally suspended his campaign for the White House. In a speech lasting over 20 minutes in a Washington, DC-area hotel, Gingrich suggested […]

Briefly: LeMieux’s space stance, Space Bonds, Utah SLS meeting

In a conversation a few days ago with Florida Today, Florida Republican Senate candidate George LeMieux offered support for a mix of government and commercial space efforts. LeMieux called SpaceX’s efforts in particular “very exciting” and that “you’re going to see these people reach the International Space Station on a regular basis.” However, exploration beyond […]

House Appropriations Committee approves CJS bill

During a two-hour hearing on Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee debates and then approved by voice vote the Commerce, Justice, and Science (CJS) appropriations bill. The committee made no amendments to the bill that affects NASA, which receives a little less than $17.6 billion in the bill.

In his statement introducing the bill, Rep. Frank […]

House appropriators seek changes to commercial crew

On the eve of the full House Appropriations Committee’s markup of the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill, the committee released its draft report accompanying the bill, which includes additional details and policy direction for the agencies funded by the legislation. While the bill itself included no specifics about NASA’s commercial crew program, the report […]

Administration responds to one pointed column

The transfer of the space shuttle Discovery to the National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport outside Washington this week, complete with a flyover of the DC area, triggered a number of reactions, including some editorials critical of space policy and the current state of the nation’s space program. For example, in […]