NASA budget: Lawmakers make no decision on Constellation, space shuttle future

2 Comments June 30, 2010 NASA

WASHINGTON — A key congressional committee sidestepped a potential vote on NASA’s future Tuesday, opting to take no position on White House plans to scrap NASA’s moon-rocket program and replace the space shuttle with commercial rockets.

The House subcommittee with oversight of NASA’s budget did agree, however, to withhold funding for the agency’s human exploration program until Congress authorizes a plan for the agency.

That move normally could cause headaches for the administration. But because Congress is unlikely to move this spending bill — or any 2011 spending bill — until after election season, the matter essentially is rendered moot.

Much of the rest of the two-hour hearing turned into a debate over what NASA should do after the shuttle era.

U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., derided a White House policy released Monday that encourages increased international participation in space exploration.

“We must not allow our manned space program to continue to drift,” said Wolf, pointing to the arrest this week of Russians accused of working in a spy ring on the East Coast. “We need a strong American space program.”

U.S. Rep. John Culberson, R- Texas, echoed that sentiment, offering an amendment to the bill that would bar cooperation between the U.S. and China on space unless Congress approved the deal under a later law. It failed in a 9-4 vote along party lines.