This revision adds a House Rules Committee meeting to formulate the rule for House consideration of the CJS appropriations bill on Monday, and two more hearings on Thursday (House Armed Services re export controls, and House Oversight and Investigations on Oversight of Federal Financial Management) . Check our calendar for details of these meetings. All will be held in Washington, D.C. Note that the House Science and Technology subcommittee has posted a final list of witnesses for the June 18 hearing on NASA’s budget.

A nomination hearing for Charlie Bolden and Lori Garver for the top posts at NASA is also a possibility. Check the Senate Commerce committee’s website for up-to-the-minute information. As of Sunday evening, one had not been announced.

Monday, June 15

• 5:00 pm House Rules Committee meets to formulate a rule on H.R. 2847, Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill. (It will also write the rule for the Supplemental Appropriations bill.) Room H-313, U.S. Capitol.

Tuesday, June 16

• 8:00 am Marshall Institute breakfast meeting, “Innovation in Aerospace.” National Press Club, 529 14^th Street, NW, Washington, DC. Free but reservations required
• 10:00 am House Armed Services Committee full committee markup of FY2010 DOD Authorization Bill, 2118 Rayburn

Wednesday, June 17

• 9:00 am Augustine panel on NASA’s Human Space Flight program, Carnegie Institution, 1530 P Street, NW, Washington, DC. No pre-registration required.
• TBD House of Representatives scheduled to take up the FY2010 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill (which includes NASA, NOAA and NSF)
• 2:00 pm House Science and Technology subcommittee hearing on NPOESS, 2318 Rayburn

Thursday, June 18

• 10:00 am House Science and Technology subcommittee hearing on External Views on NASA’s FY2010 Budget Request, 2318 Rayburn
• 1:00 pm AIAA symposium on Commercial Crew and Cargo Transportation, Hyatt Regency Washington hotel, Capitol Hill. Free but RSVP required.
• 2:00 pm House Foreign Affairs subcommittee hearing on the Export Administration Act: A Review of Outstanding Policy Considerations, 2172 Rayburn.
• 2:00 pm House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee hearing on Oversight of Federal Financial Management, 2247 Rayburn (NASA’s legislative affairs website states that NASA’s CFO Robert Spoehel will be one of the witnesses).

The House Appropriations Committee published a list of terminations and reductions in the FY2010 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill last week. A notable item was a reduction of $113.9 million for commercial crew and cargo in FY2009.

To reduce or eliminate existing appropriations is called a rescission. Just as a law must be passed to appropriate funds, a law also must be passed to rescind them. Rescissions are included in the CJS bill (see sec. 529 of the bill), but none is for NASA. Thus, the meaning of the funding cut listed by the House Appropriations Committee remains unclear. For FY2010, the committee recommends the same amount for commercial crew and cargo as was requested, $39.1 million.

For an excellent explanation of the appropriations process, including rescissions, see CRS Report 97-694, The Congressional Appropriations Process: An Introduction, by Sandy Streeter, available through the House’s website.

The report to accompany the FY2010 Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations act is now available on the Web. It provides details about the committee’s decisions regarding NASA and other agencies in the bill. The bill number is H.R. 2847 and the report number is H. Rept. 111-149. Both are available through the Thomas website: http://thomas.loc.gov. Or just click here for the report. The House Rules Committee will meet tomorrow evening (Monday, June 15, at 5:00 pm) to formulate the rule for the bill. The tentative date for the bill to go to the floor is Wednesday, June 17.

The House Appropriations Committee has posted the FY2010 Commerce, Justice Science Appropriations bill (unnumbered) as ordered reported from committee, along with a summary of the bill, and a list of terminations and reductions. The committee made the following terminations and reductions to NASA for either FY2009 or FY2010:

Termination

NASA visitor centers, program terminated to support higher priorities, FY2009 -$7 million

Reductions:

NASA, Exploration: deferral pending outcome of Blue Ribbon Panel on human space flight FY2010 -$566.5 million

NASA commercial crew and cargo, program phase out FY2009 -$113.9 million

NASA, Earth science other missions and analysis: reduction reflects no need for operations for failed science mission FY2010 -$32 million

NASA institutional investments construction of facilities: reduction to support higher priority programs FY2010 -$23 mllion

NASA space and flight support: program reduction to support higher priority programs FY2010 -$17.7 million

NASA various innovative partnership programs: reduction to support higher priority programs FY2010 -$9.3 million

NASA, informal education: reduction to support higher priority programs FY2010 -$2.1 million

It’s not as though former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin shied away from speaking his mind when he was in Washington, but now that he is a professor at the University of Alabama, Huntsville, he is even more free to say what he thinks. The Associated Press printed an interview with him today, when he provides his views on the Augustine panel, Charlie Bolden as his successor, and other topics.

Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce subcommittee with jurisdiction over NOAA, said that the report of the NPOESS Independent Review Team, chaired by Tom Young, is “pretty damning of the current process.” NOAA Administrator Jane Lubchenco said that fixing NPOESS was one of her highest priorities, and the three agencies (NOAA, DOD, and NASA) are working with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to determine the best way forward. She said that the IPT put four options on the table, but did not elaborate. A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of this congressional hearing is available here.

On May 20, Senator Bill Nelson stated at a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Strategic Forces, which he chairs, that the IPT recommended that NASA design and operate the system for NOAA with the cooperation of DOD instead of the tri-agency management structure now in place. He also said the program will cost an additional $1-1.5 billion. A SpacePolicyOnline.com summary of that hearing is available here.

The House Science and Technology Committee’s Investigations and Oversight Subcommittee is planning a hearing specifically on NPOESS next week (June 17, 2:00-4:00, 2318 Rayburn).

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) told The Hill newspaper that Charlie Bolden’s nomination as NASA Administrator is likely to be voted on next week by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. She is the Ranking Member of the committee.

The committee has two nomination hearings scheduled for next Tuesday (June 16 at 10:30 and at 2:30). Gen. Bolden is not currently listed on the schedule for either, but it is possible that he could be added. It seems likely that Lori Garver’s nomination as Deputy Administrator would be considered at the same time, though it is not mentioned in the Hill’s article.

NASA has announced the dates of not only the first meeting (June 17) of the Augustine panel on options for NASA’s human space flight program, but for other meetings throughout its three-month term. In addition to June 17 in Washington D.C., other public meetings are scheduled for July 28 in Huntsville, July 30 in Cape Canaveral, and August 5 back in Washington, D.C. The full schedule can be viewed here.

Dwayne Day has written an excellent summary for The Space Review of last week’s symposium “Aligning Policies and Budgets,” sponsored by George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute: “Space policy 101: Civil Space 2009.”

I was pleased to be invited to be a member of one of the panels. My Powerpoint presentation is available here. Three of the other speakers also used PowerPoints (Scott Pace, Christopher Scolese, and Kevin Eveker) and they are available on the Space Policy Institute’s website.

The full House Appropriations Committee will markup the bill that includes NASA’s FY2010 funding (the Commerce, Justice, Science appropriations bill) at 11:00 am today, June 9, in 2359 Rayburn House Office Building. According to the committee’s website, the markup will be webcast.

This is a crucial step for NASA’s budget and the Constellation program. Last week, the CJS subcommittee cut $700 million from President Obama’s $3.9 billion request for the program on the basis that a “time out” is needed while the Augustine panel deliberates on options for NASA’s future human space flight program. The Orlando Sentinel reports on two Florida lawmakers who are lobbying to get the funds restored.