Senate Floor Debate on Space Station

Senate floor debate on S. 1034, the VA/HUD Appropriations bill took place on July 21-22 (see FYI #94 .) Significant discussion centered on an amendment by Sen. Dale Bumpers (D-AR) to terminate the Space Station. Bumpers has offered a similar amendment each year since 1992, without success. In arguing for his space station termination amendment this year (which ultimately failed), Bumpers made use of statements and testimony opposing the station by The American Physical Society. Some of Bumpers’ quotes are highlighted below, along with selections from space station supporters.

Dale Bumpers (D-AR) Quotes Against the Space Station:

“Almost all the scientists in the country, virtually every Nobel physicist, virtually every scientific group in America, opposes the space station.... The American Physical Society and so many other groups oppose the space station.... Who comprises The American Physical Society? It is 41,000 physicists.”

“Do you have any idea, when we sit in the Agriculture Committee talking about research, how we have to grovel and fight and scratch and claw for every dime we get for research? ...Do you know the National Institutes of Health can only fund one out of every four good scientific projects that are brought to them? ...Do you know what real medical research could be done if we simply gave them the cost of one space shuttle flight? They could fund one out of every three proposals.”

“It was Dr. Nicolaas Bloembergen, of Harvard, who made the best statement I ever heard about research on the space station.... He said, microgravity is of microimportance.’ That says it all.”

“Why did NASA transfer $462 million from its science account to the manufacturing of the space station? To cover the cost overruns. And the $462 million comes out of the science budget. Either you are going to reduce the scientific experiments on this thing by $462 million, or NASA is going to come back to Congress and say we need $462 million more. Which do you think that is going to be? We all know what it is going to be, and this is just the beginning.”

"[Senator Glenn] has circulated a brochure that ties the space station to research on aging. God knows, I ought to be interested in that. Well, ironically one space shuttle flight to the space station will cost almost as much as the entire $454 million budget of the National Institute on Aging. One space shuttle flight would finance the National Institute on Aging for one year.... If you gave it to the National Institute on Aging, you at least have an outside chance of something happening.”

“If that were just Dale Bumpers talking, you need pay no attention. But it is every physical society of every nation who has a dime in it - the Japanese Physical Society, the Canadian Physical Society, the European Physical Society, and the American Physical Society. That is virtually 99 percent of all the physicists in the world who oppose this thing and say we ought to be spending the money on legitimate medical research. You are not going to get a cure for warts out of the space station.”

Quotes by Supporters of the Space Station:

Christopher Bond (R-MO): “Nevertheless, the vast body, I think, of scientific knowledge and scientific expertise indicates that the space station is a tremendous opportunity for us to expand our knowledge not only about space but to develop new processes, new pharmaceuticals, medical advancements, and items that can be of tremendous benefit for us here on Earth.”

Barbara Mikulski (D-MD): “This dazzling scientific endeavor was created under the Reagan administration, sustained under the Bush administration, and maintained under the Clinton administration. Now, why have three Presidents of the United States all supported space station Freedom? They have done it for several reasons. One, because it accomplished significant science in space. Second, it is a model for what the new world order will look like in which no one nation dominates space, but each nation is best at what it best can do.... It will be multilateral, multinational cooperation for multiple gains.”

Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX): “Part of the American dream is the commitment to research. It is the commitment to the future. An important part of that is space and the space station.... To walk away from that would be un-American and it would be unthinkable.”

Phil Gramm (R-TX): “I would just like to remind my colleagues that in 1965, we were investing 5.7 cents out of every dollar spend by the Federal Government in science and technology in the future...we are now investing roughly 1.9 cents out of every dollar spent by the Federal Government in science and technology in the future.... This ultimately comes down to a debate between investing in the next election and investing in the next generation.”

John Glenn (D-OH): “Furthermore, the international space station will continue research into fundamental physics. Scientists use low gravity to test fundamental theories of physics with degrees of accuracy that far exceed the capacity of earthbound science. Physics and low gravity expand our understanding of changes in the state of matter, including those changes responsible for high-temperature superconductivity. The long-term benefits will challenge and expand our theories of how matter organizes as it changes state, and that is especially important in understanding superconductivity and its advantages. We can also test the theory of relativity with precision beyond the capacity of earthbound science.”

Christopher Bond (R-MO): “I am sorry to hear the time has expired, because I was really getting into listening to my colleague from Arkansas [Sen. Bumpers.] He makes me feel like I used to feel when the summer carnival came to town and I went in and I listened to people who were smooth talkers from Arkansas and elsewhere. I would end up giving them the 20, 30 cents I had saved all summer long. They are very, very compelling.”