By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 18 at 7:15 am ET The AP broke the news yesterday that the Government Accountability Office (formerly the General Accounting Office) is investigating NASA spending practices, with a focus on outgoing administrator Sean O’Keefe. According to four current or former NASA officials who spoke with AP reporter Adam Nossiter, the GAO is looking at O’Keefe’s use of a government jet rather than less-expensive commercial airlines for much of his travel, as well as his use of off-site retreats. Upon hearing of the report, O’Keefe and his new employer, LSU, went on the offensive: the Houston Chronicle, Florida Today, and the Orlando Sentinel all report that O’Keefe said he was unaware of any such GAO investigation, and denied that he had done anything other than follow government regulations.
From here, it’s impossible to say whether these allegations have any merit: that is, after all, why the GAO is investigating. The timing of this report is particularly curious, coming as it does as O’Keefe is getting ready to start his new job next week as LSU chancellor. (Also note that the AP article carries a Baton Rouge, not Washington, dateline.) Conspiracy-minded folks might wonder if this is an attempt to embarrass O’Keefe—or worse—by someone less than enthused by O’Keefe’s selection as new chancellor…
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 17 at 7:32 am ET The full House Science Committee will hold a hearing at 10am this morning on the FY06 NASA budget proposal. Fred Gregory, the acting administrator, is the sole witness scheduled to testify. The hearing will be webcast.
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 17 at 7:30 am ET In a TownHall.com column, Larry Elder notes that NASA makes the list of about 150 agencies facing “drastic spending reductions”:
The president proposes $16.45 billion for NASA in 2006. That’s a 2.4 percent increase over what the government is spending this year on the program. But it is $500 million less than what the space agency was expecting for 2006. So, NASA is listed as one of the 154 programs facing extinction or “drastic spending reductions.” Only in Washington does a decrease in the proposed increase equal a spending cut.
Of course, if you work at NASA Glenn or Langley, or in aeronautics in general, you might have a different interpretation…
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 16 at 7:18 pm ET Thomas has finally posted the text of HR 656, the legislation introduced last week by Rep. James Oberstar to amend the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act with additional safety provisions. As expected, the bill includes a provision to require AST to ensure that each launch license “includes minimum standards to protect the health and safety of crews and space flight participants, taking into account the inherently risky nature of human flight”. The bill would also extend the amount of time AST has to approve the new experimental permits introduced in last year’s legislation from 120 to 180 days—the same amount of time AST has to consider a launch license application once it is substantially complete. This would undo some of the advantages of the experimental permit regime, at least in the eyes of industry, who saw the permit system as a way to expedite the testing of new vehicle designs.
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 16 at 7:46 am ET While there’s been no official announcement yet from the minority leadership of the House Appropriations Committee on new subcommittee assignments, at least one key member has found a slot on the new subcommittee whose jurisdiction includes NASA. Rep. Bud Cramer (D-AL), whose district includes NASA Marshall, announced late Tuesday that he will serve on the Science, State, Justice, and Commerce subcommittee. This is (for those who have lost track in the last couple of weeks) the committee formed by taking NASA and NSF from the former VA-HUD subcommittee and moving them into the committee that previously handled the budgets of the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State. The overall reorganization was approved by the full membership of the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday in a vote that fell along party lines.
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 14 at 6:27 am ET News that the FY06 NASA budget will lead to significant jobs cuts at some NASA centers is (surprise!) not sitting well with some members of Congress. The Cleveland Plain Dealer and the AP report that much of Ohio’s Congressional delegation, including the state’s two Republican senators, two Republican congressmen, and all six Democratic congressmen, sent a letter to President Bush asking him to reconsider his budget plans, which would result in 700 job cuts at the Glenn Research Center. Interesting trivia: Glenn is in the district of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who made a somewhat quixotic run for the Democratic presidential nomination last year.
Meanwhile, members of Virginia’s Congressional delegation are hearing from NASA Langley employees who are worried they could be among the 1,000 jobs to be cut at the center under current plans, according to the Hampton Roads Daily Press. Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-VA) used the opportunity to criticize the new emphasis on exploration over aeronautics: “The last I looked, Mars is not ready to attack us right now.”
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 12 at 1:46 pm ET Despite Senate opposition, the House is moving ahead with its planned reorganization of the appropriations committee. The committee released Friday the assignments of Republican members to the new subcommittees. As previously announced, the “Science, State, and Justice” subcommittee (the word “Commerce” doesn’t appear in the release, although it is still apparently included in the subcommittee’s jurisdiction) will be chaired by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA). Rep. Dave Weldon (R-FL) will be the vice-chairman. The other Republicans are:
Democratic members have not been announced yet, largely because the Democrats are opposed to this reorganization (which becomes official after a meeting of the full committee on Tuesday.) In a statement, Rep. David Obey (D-WI), ranking Democrat on the appropriations committee, called the reorganization “simply payback”, saying that “House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is retaliating for cuts that the Republican-controlled VA-HUD appropriations subcommittee made to the NASA budget request.”
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 12 at 1:23 pm ET While the House is moving ahead with plans to reorganize the subcommittee structure of the House Appropriations Committee, including moving NASA from the to-be-defunct VA-HUD subcommittee to the Commerce-State-Justice subcommittee, the Senate has been less than enthusiastic. If the Senate doesn’t reorganize, then the House and Senate versions various appropriations bills cannot be reconciled, requiring an omnibus budget bill like last year.
In a bid to avoid that, CongressDaily reported Friday that Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) has proposed an alternative restructuring that would keep the number of subcommittees on the Senate side at 13, but align them to match the reorganized House structure. Under that format, “environmental and science programs”, including NASA, would be moved from the VA-HUD committee to “a new subcommittee”, although the report doesn’t say if they would be the only agencies in that subcommittee or not. (EPA would be moved not to this subcommittee, but the Interior subcommittee, just as in the House plan.)
The Hutchison plan has the advantage—for her—that it would maintain the number of subcommittees: according to the report, Hutchison would lose her chairmanship of the Military Construction subcommittee if the Senate went along with the House proposal. That seems unlikely to happen, but the Hutchison proposal also seems unlikely to be enacted: the spokesman for Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), chairman of the VA-HUD subcommittee, called it “Tom DeLay-lite.”
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 11 at 6:26 am ET I don’t think you’ll see this Florida Today editorial cartoon posted on too many cubicle walls and bulletin boards in NASA’s Office of Exploration Systems.
By Jeff Foust on 2005 February 11 at 5:19 am ET Congressman Dave Weldon (R-FL) spoke at a Space Transportation Association breakfast Thursday morning immediately preceding the FAA/AST conference in downtown Washington. Weldon is (was?) a member of the VA-HUD subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, but he is not sad to see to go. “I personally think that’s good news for NASA,” he said. He also approved the decision to move NASA into the same subcommittee as the Departments of Commerce, Justice, and State. “I think that’s a competition we have a much better shot of winning each year, and winning each year will become critically important. We’re heading into what I think going to be a tough long season for our budgeting process” because of the growing cost of programs like Social Security and Medicare. “It’s going to be a hard slog.”
Weldon said that he expected an announcement later that day regarding who would be assigned to what subcommittees. (I haven’t seen an announcement yet on this.) He wants to be assigned to the new Science, State, Justice and Commerce and committee to keep oversight of NASA. However, he said that is the second most competitive appropriations subcommittee, after the defense subcommittee, and there was no guarantee he’d get a seat even if the subcommittees are enlarged somewhat.
Weldon was asked about who he thought would (or should) succeed Sean O’Keefe at NASA. He said that he “bumped into” O’Keefe the other day and asked him what was going on with the selection of his successor. “All he could tell me was that he gave the White House… three names: an insider, an outsider with space experience, and an outsider who was not necessarily a space person but who was an innovator and could bring a fresh perspective.” Certainly there’s been plenty of speculation in the first two categories (NASA associate administrator Bill Readdy sat next to Weldon at the breakfast; draw from that what you will), but less so on the third. But, hey, I hear Carly Fiorina is looking for a new job, and she did serve on the Aldridge Commission…
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