Sat, Feb 07, 2009
"Strongly Supports" Full Senate Stimulus Funding For
Agency
Recent developments concerning the
economic stimulus bill are cause for serious concern for NASA's
funding needs, said the Coalition for Space Exploration on
Friday.
A full vote in the Senate is imminent and the outcome for NASA
is "imperative." The Coalition says NASA needs robust funding and
the agency was poised to receive $1.5 billion from the Senate
stimulus package, which would have been "a step in the right
direction."
Instead, however, a proposed 50 percent cut puts
NASA's programs at risk and in potential turmoil.
"The Senate has an opportunity to provide the resources NASA
needs to accomplish the goals laid before it," the CSE said in a
statement to Aero-News. "This could be the first step to adequately
fund our nation's space program, which has gone from four percent
of the federal budget during the Apollo era to less than one
percent of the budget at present. NASA programs and the contractors
who support them represent approximately half-a-million highly
skilled jobs in key states across our country. Another blow to the
NASA budget only means delays, hampered programs, reduced benefits
to US citizens and unmet goals.
"How can we expect an agency that, as Coalition for Space
Exploration research has shown over the years, is valued by the
majority of Americans to function on so little? Now is the time to
support NASA. Now is the time for a stimulus package that begins to
fund our space exploration programs well. Now is not the time to
once again shortchange NASA."
As of Friday night, a final Senate vote on the measure had to
come to pass, though senators reportedly arrived at a tentative
agreement late in the afternoon. Details of that agreement --
reached to appease Senate Republicans -- were not forthcoming.
With the Obama administration keen to pass a stimulus package as
soon as possible, we'll soon see how effective the Coalition's
appeal was. Stay tuned.
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