Weldon: Dems' NASA Cuts Aimed at Manned Space Flight Program
Weldon: Dems' NASA Cuts Aimed at Manned Space Flight Program
The new Democrat majority Tuesday proposed a fiscal year 2007 budget. Included in the bill are sweeping cuts to NASA's budget that could jeopardize the future of space exploration. U.S. Rep. Dave Weldon, M.D. (R-FL), today spoke on the House floor in defense of NASA funding, saying the proposed cuts are a "back-handed way to destroy the manned space flight program."
Below are Weldon's prepared remarks:
"I want to speak to the NASA budget and in particular the serious adverse impact the proposed cuts will have on NASA's mission.
"I went to the Rules Committee yesterday to ask that an amendment be made to address the dramatic cuts made to NASA programs. Yet, once again, the Democrat majority has chosen partisanship over partnership. The rhetoric about an open process, transparency, and partnership is nothing but a sham. Thus far, the 110th Congress continues to be governed by a culture of deception.' There is no openness. There is no partnership. There is no transparency.
"What the Democrat majority has done in this bill with regard to the NASA budget is not only unprecedented, it is damaging to our national space program. By setting into law, rather than report language, the funding levels for certain NASA budget accounts, this bill eliminates NASA flexibility in budgeting.
"Last year, the House did its work on the NASA budget. We approved a NASA funding bill providing $16.7 billion for NASA for 2007 - a $440 million increase over last year. Nearly all of this increase was dedicated to the transition from the Shuttle to Orion. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a NASA budget nearly equal to the House passed bill. NASA was on track, and a strong bipartisan majority supported the $16.7 billion funding level. Even the current chairman of the Appropriations Committee voted for that budget.
"However, on Monday, the Democrat leadership gave us the bill that they had drafted - largely without input from the members - and now they are not going to even permit Members to offer amendments to this bill that spends nearly a-half a trillion dollars. What does it do to the NASA budget? In their 'great wisdom,' Democrat leadership has decided to fund NASA below the levels in the House and Senate approved bills. Even worse, however, they cut NASA even below last year's level.
"Not only does this budget not provide the needed funding for ramping up development of Orion, it actually raids the Orion budget to earmark funds for programs in several key Democrat districts. This budget will delay the development of Orion, which will widen the transition time between the Shuttle and Orion, resulting in the loss of thousands of highly skilled jobs.
"These cuts are a back-handed way to destroy the manned space flight program."
http://weldon.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=56743