NASA Funding Bill Advances; Mission to Planet Earth Takes Cut
On July 18, the VA/HUD appropriations bill for FY 1996 went before the full House Appropriations Committee. The resulting bill, which funds NASA, NSF, veterans’ and housing programs, was changed significantly from the version passed by the VA/HUD subcommittee the previous week.
The original bill reported out of the subcommittee, chaired by Jerry Lewis (R-CA), made drastic or fatal reductions to several space science programs, including Cassini, SIRTF, and SOFIA, and recommended closing the Goddard, Langley and Marshall Space Flight Centers. (See FYIs #97, 99 for details.) Having achieved his self-described objective of focusing NASA’s attention on budget realities, Lewis successfully offered an amendment in the full committee mark-up to provide funding for Cassini, SOFIA, and Gravity Probe B, as well as the three NASA centers. The amendment offsets some of this additional funding by cutting $332.6 million from Mission to Planet Earth.
The full committee’s version of the bill would reduce NASA’s total budget to $13.67 billion, $705 million below the current FY 1995 level (after rescissions) and $590 million below the Administration’s FY 1996 request. Although it provides full funding for the shuttle and space station, Lewis’s amendment would delay availability of $390.0 million in space station funds until August of 1996. Details of the full committee’s changes to NASA funding include: Cassini and its related services would receive the full request of $249.0 million; SOFIA would be funded at $28.7 million, $20 million less than the request; Gravity Probe B would receive $51.5 million; Mission to Planet Earth would be reduced by $332.6 million from a request of $1.34 billion; and funding for the three centers would be provided at the requested amounts. (The fate of SIRTF remains unclear.) An amendment was offered by David Obey, the appropriations committee ranking minority member, to terminate the space station and distribute those funds to other programs within the bill, but it was defeated on a voice vote.
The committee report language will be changed to reflect the Lewis amendment. A future FYI will provide selected details of the new report language when it becomes available. The bill is expected to receive consideration by the full House within the next two weeks. In the Senate, VA/HUD ranking minority member Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has promised to fight for additional funding for Mission to Planet Earth.
An authorizing bill for NASA, marked up by the House Science Space Subcommittee on July 19, ran along almost identical lines as the amended appropriations bill, reducing Mission to Planet Earth to pay for Cassini, SOFIA, Gravity Probe B, and the centers. The bill, H.R. 2043, combined with the subcommittee’s previous authorization for the space station (see FYI #92), would give NASA a total FY 1996 spending ceiling of $13.66 billion. The authorization bill is scheduled to come before the full House Science Committee on July 25. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) plans to offer an amendment to fully restore Mission to Planet Earth funding, with offsetting cuts to be taken “generally” from the entire space science budget. House Science ranking member George Brown (D-CA) will offer an alternative bill authorizing $13.79 billion for NASA and maintaining Mission to Planet Earth, but it has little chance of passing.
In further NASA budget action, the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee moved quickly today to mark up S. 1048, its version of authorizing legislation for the space agency. While details are still unknown, commerce committee chairman Larry Pressler (R-SD) noted in introducing the bill that it attempts to fund space science, the space station, aeronautics, and Mission to Planet Earth at, or near, their requested levels. Pressler said, “I believe Mission to Planet Earth may be NASA’s most important and relevant program.” He expressed concern “that, under the new budget constraints in which we find ourselves, some may seek to sacrifice Mission to Planet Earth, and space science in general, to fund Space Station. That would be a disservice to the Nation and I will oppose any such move strongly.”
