In a letter this week to the Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Science, State, Justice, and Commerce, Science Committee Democratic leaders urged appropriators to increase NASA’s FY07 funding level as recommended in the NASA Authorization Act of 2005.
Without such augmentation, Democrats cautioned that NASA’s science and aeronautics programs – as well as other important agency R&D efforts – are at risk.
Ranking Member Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Space Subcommittee Ranking Member Rep. Mark Udall (D-CO) wrote, “NASA’s FY 2007 budget request makes unacceptable cuts to NASA’s science and aeronautics programs, and it is inconsistent with the stated goals of the Administration’s American Competitiveness Initiative. We believe that if those cuts are not reversed, long-term damage will be done to important national R&D capabilities. Moreover, an exploration initiative that is premised on the curtailment or diminution of other core NASA missions is not likely to prove politically sustainable over the long run.”
“We believe that failure to provide the funds necessary to carry out a balanced program of R&D in science, aeronautics, and human space flight would call into question the wisdom of proceeding with the exploration initiative as currently conceived. Congress would be ill-advised to start down the road of making large investments in the hardware and systems needed for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit – for which the magnitude of the required investment will increase dramatically in the period beyond the current five-year NASA budget plan – in the absence of a national consensus to provide the necessary resources.”
