NASA Budget

Floor Speech

Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, since NASA's inception, the challenges that American scientists and engineers overcame to put men in space and on the Moon has brought forth a slew of cutting-edge technologies that made their way into our daily lives. Now the administration is willing to throw away 50 years of progress on a sub-orbital taxicab that places the U.S. firmly behind China and other nations who are willing to make the investments we used to because they understand the importance of human space exploration.

On the campaign trail in Florida the President said, We cannot cede our leadership in space. That's why I will help close the gap by speeding the development of the Shuttle's successor. His proposed budget kills that successor, the Constellation program, thereby directly contradicting his commitment. It is a path to second place for the United States.

The President has a voice in the Federal budget process, but not the final word. I intend to fight to maintain hundreds of thousands of high-technology jobs in America and America's global leadership in human space exploration.

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