The House of Representatives worked until just after midnight completing consideration of amendments to the FY2013 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill.  Only one step remains — passage of the amended bill — which is expected to occur early this afternoon.

The House adjourned at two minutes after midnight following lengthy debate on amendments to the bill as reported from the appropriations committee.   Only one amendment debated Wednesday-Thursday would have affected NASA and it was defeated.  The amendment, by Rep. John Tierney (D-MA), would have taken $10 million from the Mars Next Decade account and used it for a program in the Department of Justice (the John R. Justice Prosecutors and Defenders program, part of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act).   It was defeated 160-260.

The only amendment that succeeded in changing the amount allocated for NASA during floor debate was agreed to on Tuesday.   It takes $126 million from NASA’s Cross Agency Support account to use for a community policing program in the Department of Justice.

No changes were made to the appropriations commitee’s recommendations for NOAA’s satellite programs.

House passage of the bill will complete House action on its version of the CJS bill, H.R. 5326, but the Senate still must pass its bill and the two must then reconcile their differences before sending it to the President for signature.   The White House indicated before debate on the bill began that it would veto the bill as it was reported from committee.  One of its objections was the reduction in funding for commercial crew compared to the President’s request; that was not changed during floor debate.

The House of Representatives began debate on the FY2013 Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill yesterday.   Several amendments that would have cut NASA funding in order to pay for non-NASA programs were defeated, but one was adopted that cuts $126 million from the Cross Agency Support account.   The House also defeated amendments that would have made across the board cuts.  The House is expected to resume consideration of the bill, H.R. 5326, today.

By a narrow margin, Rep. Michael Grimm (R-NY), succeeded in cutting NASA’s Cross Agency Support budget by $126 million in order to add money to the COPS community policing program in the Department of Justice budget.  The vote was 206-204. 

Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), however, did not succeed with her amendment to cut NASA’s aeronautics budget by $44 million and space operations by $38 million in order to add funding for enforcement of financial fraud laws.  It was defeated by voice vote.

Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI) also failed in his proposal to reduce NASA’s Cross Agency Support budget by $17 million and using that money instead for the International Trade Administration and the U.S. Trade Representative.   That amendment initially was adopted by voice vote, but a recorded vote was demanded and it lost 141-261.

Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) proposed taking $26 million from NASA’s Cross Agency Support budget and allocating $7.1 million of that instead to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.  The amendment failed 96-314.

A 12.2 percent across the board cut to all spending in the bill was proposed by Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), although it would have exempted NASA, the U.S. Marshall Service, and the FBI.   The amendment was defeated 105-307.  A separate amendment by Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) for a 1 percent across the board cut, with no exceptions, also was rejected.  That vote was 160-251.

A list of all the amendments considered yesterday and their disposition is on the House Republican Cloakroom’s website.  Debate on the bill is scheduled to resume today along with other legislative business. 

The Obama Administration has threatened to veto the FY2013 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill that is scheduled for floor debate beginning tomorrow.  In its Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) released today, the Administration says that it “strongly opposes” passage of the bill for a long list of reasons including cuts to NOAA’s budget and to NASA’s budget for commercial crew.

The SAP begins by criticizing the overall funding level for the bill, H.R. 5326.  The White House notes that the House adopted lower total spending levels for the federal government than what was agreed to last summer in the Budget Control Act.  It says the lower funding level overall will “cost jobs and hurt average Americans. especially seniors, veterans, and children … [and] degrade many of the basic Government services on which the American people rely such as air traffic control and law enforcement.”

It goes on to list specific objections to different parts of the bill and states “If the president were presented with H.R. 5326, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”

Regarding NOAA and NASA, the statement says:

NOAA: “The Administration strongly opposes the $93 million reduction in funding from the FY 2013 Budget request for NOAA. This cut would impact negatively NOAA’s ability to support the Nation’s fisheries and oceans stewardship programs such as protected species programs, which would be cut by $16 million below the FY 2013 Budget request and $20 million below the FY 2012 enacted level. Decreased funding for Protected Species Research and Management could lead to delays in permitting or consultations and result in the development of less precise measures, which could have economic impacts on coastal industries such as fisheries, agriculture, oil and gas development, and coastal construction. The Administration appreciates the Committee’s support for mission-critical satellite programs.”  

NASA:  “The Administration strongly opposes the level of funding provided for the commercial crew program, which is $330 million below the FY 2013 Budget request, as well as restrictive report language that would eliminate competition in the program. This would increase the time the United States will be required to rely solely on foreign providers to transport American astronauts to and from the space station. While the Administration appreciates the overall funding level provided to NASA, the bill provides some NASA programs with unnecessary increases at the expense of other important initiatives.”