Lawmakers slash NASA budget request

By Amy Klamper

updated 1:44 p.m. ET June 8, 2009

WASHINGTON - In a move that reflects the uncertainty surrounding NASA's current strategy for replacing the space shuttle and returning astronauts to the moon by 2020, House appropriators slashed by 16 percent the space agency's $4 billion request for manned space exploration in 2010.

The proposed legislation, marked up June 4 by the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee, trims $483 million overall from U.S. President Barack Obama's $18.7 billion budget request for NASA next year. The $670 million cut to the 2010 manned exploration request would leave $3.21 billion, which is less than is available for the effort this year.

Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.), the subcommittee's chairman, described the move as a "time-out" in the budget process as the White House awaits the findings of a 10-member panel tasked by the White House to reassess NASA's post-shuttle exploration plans. That panel, led by former Lockheed Martin chief Norm Augustine, is expected to report back with its findings in August.

In his opening statement at the markup hearing, Mollohan said the cut should not be viewed as a diminution of the subcommittee's support for NASA's human spaceflight activities. "Rather, it's a deferral taken without prejudice; it is a pause, a time-out, to allow the president to establish his vision for human space exploration and to commit to realistic future funding levels to realize this vision."

Mollohan told Space News June 4 he is "open to responding to an amended budget request" based on Augustine's review. Mollohan also said he expects the Obama administration to deliver to Congress a "realistic and sustainable" cost assessment of NASA's human spaceflight program in time to amend the 2010 request.

"We invite this report and the administration's response to it, whatever it is," Mollohan said. "We want very much for the funding to be an honest and realistic cost assessment."

Concerns raised
NASA's current human spaceflight plan calls for retiring the space shuttle in 2010 and replacing it with a crew capsule dubbed Orion that would be launched atop a shuttle-derived rocket, the Ares-1, starting in 2015. At the president's request, Augustine's panel is taking a second look at this plan, along with NASA's strategy for returning astronauts to the Moon by 2020, given the likely available budgets over the next several years.

During the hearing, key Republicans expressed concern that the bill would hold NASA's funding next year to 2009 levels. In a June 4 statement Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), said he was joining colleagues "in expressing my strong support for increasing this funding as we continue the Fiscal Year 2010 bill process."

Aderholt specifically named fellow Republican Reps. Jerry Lewis of California, the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee; Frank Wolf of Virginia, the ranking member of the commerce, justice, science subcommittee; and John Culberson of Texas.

Other  recommendations contained in the bill include a $77million reduction in NASA's proposed space operations budget, which includes the space shuttle and international space station; a $6 million reduction in science; and a $332 million shift in funds from the Cross Agency Support account to a new budget line-item included in the subcommittee's mark. Dubbed Construction and Environmental Compliance, the new account would be funded at $441 million. Congressional aides said the new line item and accompanying funds are aimed at consolidating NASA's various construction efforts into a single pot of money.

Following the markup, the subcommittee posted on its Web site an exhaustive list of earmarks sought by its members. According to the document, money tapped for NASA earmarks totaled close to $15 million.

While increasing NASA's topline funding figure over 2009, Obama's 2010 funding request included an out-year budget profile for the space agency that is some $3 billion lower than was anticipated at this time last year.

Paul Shawcross, chief of the science and space branch in the White House Office of Management and Budget, said the administration's commitment to NASA was evident in the 2009 stimulus package — which included $1 billion for NASA programs — as well as in its 2010 budget request.

"But after 2010, it's flat to 2013," Shawcross said June 2 during a symposium hosted by the George Washington University here. He attributed the flat funding profile to the recession and anticipated recovery measures. He said the Obama administration is facing a $1.26 trillion deficit in 2010, a figure the president hopes to reduce to about $500 billion by 2014. Consequently, funding for NASA and other discretionary spending will be squeezed in the out-years.

"That fiscal environment is reflected in NASA's topline request," Shawcross said.

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