Appropriations Update: September 23
Congressional action is focused on health care and appropriations bills this week, with no hearings announced thus far of significance to the space program.
On the appropriations front, the Senate is hoping to bring up the DOD appropriations bill (H.R. 3326) as early as today (Wednesday) once it completes action on the Interior-Environment appropriations bill.
Conferees may meet this week on the Department of Energy (DOE) appropriations bill (H.R. 3183). An important space issue in the DOE bill is whether DOE should be given the $30 million it requested to restart production facilities to make plutonium-238, which is needed for NASA’s lunar surface and deep space probes. As reported earlier on SpacePolicyOnline.com, the Senate zeroed the request; the House cut $20 million.
The House plans to pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) this week to keep the government operating past September 30, the end of FY2009. The bill is still being written, but reportedly will cover through the end of October. None of the 12 appropriations bills has been enacted yet.
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