FY 2009 Omnibus Funding Bill: NASA

Yesterday the House of Representatives passed H.R. 1105, the FY 2009 Omnibus Funding Bill, which provides for an increase of 2.2 percent in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s FY 2009 budget. This bill has moved to the Senate, which may not start its consideration of the $410 billion bill until next week.

Funding for NASA and the other departments and agencies in this bill continues under a measure passed last year until March 6. Although the House passed H.R. 1105 by a vote of 245-178, its speedy passage in the Senate is clouded by fiscal conservatives who will attempt to trim earmarks or the overall level of spending in the bill. If the bill is changed in the Senate it must return to the House for another vote before being sent to President Obama.

A hand-annotated copy of this bill, and its accompanying Joint Explanatory Statement are available here . Readers are alerted that there is important and detailed Explanatory Statement language regarding NASA in Division B - Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2009, which is found on pdf pages 132 through 153. A table with program funding amounts can be viewed at pdf pages 344 and 345. (Important notes: consult the Explanatory Statement and not the bill text language, and use the pdf and not the typed page numbers.)

The following are the recommended levels of funding for various NASA programs in H.R. 1105, taken from the above cited table and http://www.aip.org/fyi/2008/070 Note that the funding table does not provide “FY 2008 Enacted” figures because of changes in budget categories. These figures are taken from Senate Report 110-397, the Senate Appropriations Committee’s initial version of the FY 2009 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations Bill.

Total NASA:

The FY 2008 enacted budget was $17,401.9 million.
The Bush Administration’s FY 2009 request was $17,614.2 million.
The omnibus bill recommends $17,782.4 million. This is an increase of $380.5 million or 2.2 percent over FY 2008.

Science:

The FY 2008 budget was $4706.2 million.
The Bush Administration’s FY 2009 request was $4,441.5 million.
The omnibus bill recommends $4,503.0 million. This is a decline of $203.2 million or 4.3 percent.

Aeronautics:

The FY 2008 budget was $511.7 million.
The Bush Administration’s FY 2009 request was $446.5 million.
The omnibus bill recommends $500.0 million. This is a decline of $11.7 million or 2.3 percent.

Exploration:

The FY 2008 budget was $3,143.1 million.
The Bush Administration’s FY 2009 request was $3,500.5 million.
The omnibus bill recommends $3,505.5 million. This is an increase of $362.4 million or 11.5 percent.

Space Operations:

The FY 2008 budget was $5,526.2 million.
The Bush Administration’s FY 2009 request was $5,774.7 million.
The omnibus bill recommends $5,764.7 million. This is an increase of $238.5 million or 4.3 percent.

Education:

The FY 2008 budget was $146.8 million.
The Bush Administration’s FY 2009 request was $115.6 million.
The omnibus bill recommends $169.2 million. This is an increase of $22.4 million or 15.3 percent.