Friendswood and Pearland Journals - Lampson on Space, Budget, Lobbyists

Friendswood and Pearland Journals - Lampson on Space, Budget, Lobbyists

06/01/2006

Friendswood and Pearland Journals, June 1, 2006
By Colleen O'Brien

Editor's note: HCN Journalist Colleen O'Brien recently interviewed Congressional Candidate Nick Lampson, following a luncheon hosted by NASA workers, "Space Advocates for Lampson."

Nick Lampson is running for the 22nd Congressional District, which is part of 4 different counties: Fort Bend, Brazoria, Galveston, and Harris.
Lampson is a third generation Italian. His grandparents settled in Stafford, Texas over 100 years ago. He previously served in Congress for 4 terms.

Lampson became known for his efforts on behalf of children. He founded the first ever Congressional Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which had wide bi-partisan support.

Over 600,000 people live in the 22nd district, including all or part of Sugar Land, Missouri City, Clear Lake, Pearland, Deer Park, Pasadena, La Porte, Rosenberg, as well as Ellington Air Force Base and NASA.

Q - You were at one time a physical science teacher. What do you recall as a favorite topic or hands on demonstration?

A - One of the projects I am most proud of consisted of both a biology and civics lesson. The first school I taught at had a drainage problem. There was an area on campus along a sidewalk between two buildings that was perpetually flooded. Some organisms, like mosquito larvae, were visible to the naked eye. So one day I took my biology students out there to take water samples. They brought the samples inside and looked at them under a microscope. They discovered 23 living organisms, 3 of which were harmful to humans. We reported the findings to the local health department, who threatened to close down the school. Within two and a half hours, the school district was out there and the problem was fixed. I was very proud of my students for their curiosity and efforts in improving their school.

Q - Presently there is some collaboration among countries on space projects. There's an observatory going up in Chile that has U.S. cooperation, for instance. It seems to make sense - and cents - to seek collaboration when it comes to space exploration. What are your thoughts on the matter?

A - Back in 2002 in Congress, I introduced the Space Exploration Act, with clearly identifiable destinations and goals.

I very much support collaborations with other countries in space. Fostering relationships in space can help us with other initiatives here on the ground.

Hubble, the orbiting space telescope the size of a school bus, comes to mind. It was a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency.
Put up there in 1990, it's still circling earth every 97 minutes and giving us a lot of valuable feedback about a galaxy's life, the universe's age, Jupiter, Mars, and black holes.

But it's important to maintain our leadership position in this regard. We must not become dependent on other countries to lead for us in the areas of exploration and working in space.

Q - What are some of the benefits of investing in space?

A - We receive back $9 for every $1 we invest in aerospace.

At the height of our aerospace efforts, we were spending 6 percent of our budget on space. Today we spend far less. I would like to see us commit 1 percent of our monies on space exploration.

We Americans have a pioneering spirit. We are at our best when we challenge ourselves.

Not only that, the payoffs from investing in aerospace are enormous.

There are countless products that we use today that are direct byproducts of our aerospace efforts, including, in: computer technology, consumer/home/and recreation products, environmental and resource management, health and medicine, manufacturing technology, industrial productivity, and public safety and transportation.
Today we take some of these items, like microwave ovens and satellite communications, for instance, for granted.

I have always been a fierce proponent of manned space exploration and civilian science.

In 1998, I fought to save NASA from proposed budget cuts of $1 billion. Because of this effort, NASA was able to stave off $900 million of the proposed $1 billion in cuts. The same year, 300 space-industry jobs were created in my district alone.

I support both research and exploration in our solar system, as well as a manned flight to Mars.

As far as cost, I am always willing to take a look at what we're doing and make sure we're doing it as efficiently as possible.

With manned flights, the safety of our astronauts comes first. These brave people go into environments that are more dangerous than any I can imagine.

Q - How would you move our country's concerns about the national deficit, the war in Iraq, and Hurricane Katrina rebuilding, to a vision of hope, initiative, and space exploration?

A - It's a matter of setting priorities. We need to cut waste like the nearly half a billion dollars proposed for "bridges to nowhere" in Alaska and building a "Paper Industry Hall of Fame" in Wisconsin.

We also need to hold agencies more accountable. In the past few years, the Treasury Department reported that they had lost $25 billion?they just lost it, no one knows where it went. That's inconceivable.

We have employees of government agencies who have embezzled millions of dollars for personal purchases because no one is paying attention.

Taxpayer-funded purchases have included, for instance: Ozzy Osbourne concert tickets, tattoos, lingerie, bartender school tuition, car payments, and cash advances.

Also, Defense Department employees charged nearly $80,000 for exotic dancers.

Aside from cutting wasteful spending, we need to end tax loopholes for companies that offshore their businesses.

This would make $75 billion annually in lost revenue. Just take the $75 billion in tax loopholes and the $25 billion that was simply lost, and you have $100 billion. Our deficit is around $350 billion.

We should also end earmarks that contribute to wasteful spending on behalf of Washington lobbyists. Once we get our fiscal house in order, NASA and other top priorities won't have to compete with wasteful spending by government agencies and unnecessary projects for Washington lobbyists. Taking care of our budget affects everything else that we are able to do in Congress."

http://www.lampson.com/news?id=0078