Senator Brown Visits Plum Brook Station, Continues to Urge Full Utilization of Facilities

Press Release

Following several efforts to push NASA to fully utilize NASA Glenn's Plum Brook Station, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) met with workers and toured Plum Brook's Space Power and B2 facilities today.

"We are facing very tough fiscal times, but it is clear that Plum Brook Station is necessary and vital to an array of programs--from the private sector to the military and to NASA. That's why I have consistently urged NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to make full use of the top-notch facilities, scientists, engineers, and technicians at Plum Brook Station," Brown said. "Significantly cutting funding for NASA would hamstring our nation's national, economic, and scientific prosperity in the future. Our success in space is also about jobs--aerospace is our nation's number one manufacturing export. The reason we lead the world in space and aerospace is in large part due to the men and women at NASA Glenn."

In late March, at a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, Brown questioned NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden over NASA mission and resources decisions that affect both Lewis Field and Plum Brook Station, and pushed Bolden to ensure that Plum Brook's facilities are fully utilized. He led the Ohio Congressional delegation on a letter to President Obama in December 2011 urging full funding for NASA GRC, and has supported Plum Brook's applications for U.S. Transportation Department funds to construct a new runway.

Brown has been a leader in Congressional efforts to save jobs at NASA and NASA Glenn. Thanks to Brown, a Senate bill passed in 2010 preserved civil servant jobs at GRC for the next three years. In February 2011, an effort to eliminate aeronautics research and development from NASA's mission was stripped on the Senate floor also as a result of Brown's leadership.

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