Republicans, Democrats Divided Over Increasing Funding Levels for NASA Budget
The House Science Committee did not complete its markup Thursday of the NASA Authorization Act of 2013. Members, mostly from the Democratic minority, offered 34 amendments. A manager’s amendment introduced by Chairman Lamar Smith, R-Texas, passed, and votes on many other amendments had not been tallied by our deadline. Republicans and Democrats were divided on raising funding levels for NASA programs higher than what is proposed in the bill.
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The bill, HR-2687, is based on a “go-as-we-can-afford-to-pay strategy as reflected by the Budget Control Act of 2011,” Smith said in his opening statement. It would be irresponsible for the authorizing committee “to ignore fiscal realities and leave hard decisions that we should make to others,” he said.
Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, said the bill is “bad” and “a terribly flawed piece of legislation.” It underfunds NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) program, “in spite of testimony by the majority’s own expert witnesses that such funding shortfalls would be setting the SLS program up for failure,” she said in her opening remarks. It also cuts the account that funds NASA’s safety and mission assurance activities, she said.
Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., urged the majority to start over: “I think that they've set NASA, sadly, on an unfortunate path to failure.” The majority decided to task NASA with very challenging missions, “but not to provide the kind of resources that are really going to allow the agency to succeed,” she said.
Smith said his manager’s amendment intends to clarify the $1.8 billion funding of the SLS and a launch pad. It supports NASA’s collaboration with international partners, the commercial sector and nonprofit organizations, he said. “The amendment also expands a required report on orbital debris mitigation to include any orbital debris mitigation concepts and technological options that have been developed or funded across federal agencies.”
The amendment was supported by Rep. Paul Broun, R-Ga. Broun approved the effort to reduce NASA’s potential exposure to counterfeit electronic parts, which infiltrated the aerospace industry supply chain, he said. It would “ensure that NASA is provided the same protections as the Department of Defense against counterfeit products,” he said.
The committee voted down amendments from Edwards and Rep. Ami Bera, D-Calif., while others were voted on, but hadn’t been tallied.
Edwards reintroduced a substitute amendment, which she offered last week at the Space Subcommittee hearing (CD July 11 p9). “The agency really could make things work with a budget of $18.1 billion.” In 2014, it will fund SLS vehicle development at $1.97 billion, compared to $1.8 billion in the base bill, she said. The current bill, which passed the subcommittee, funds NASA at $16.8 billion. Bera’s amendment requested higher funding for space technology and overall agency funding.
Rep. Steven Palazzo, R-Miss., said Edwards’ amendment doesn’t reflect the sequestration restraints. “By refusing to prioritize and make the tough choices, our friends on the other side of the aisle would have us put forth unworkable solutions,” he said.
Votes on other amendments that needed to be counted include one from Rep. Dan Maffei, D-N.Y., which requests a $1.7 million increase to $37 million for the inspector general, and an amendment from Rep. Mark Takano, D-Calif., raising education funding by $11.1 million.