Commercial – Page 90 – SpacePolicyOnline.com

T-HUD Lands With a Thud in the Senate, Too

By Marcia Smith | Posted: August 1, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: August 1, 2013 9:43 pm ET

A day after the House pulled its version of the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) appropriations bill from the floor, the Senate also threw in the towel. After debating the bill for more than a week, a vote to invoke cloture failed 54-43. Congress will now leave town for its summer recess without any FY2014 appropriations bill having cleared both chambers.

The bill funds the Department of Transportation, including its Office of Commercial Space Transportation, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In total, it provides $54 billion, substantially more than the $44 billion in its House counterpart.

House Republican leaders pulled their bill from the floor yesterday because they did not have enough support in their own party to pass it because of the low level of funding. In the Senate, Republicans prevented that version from being brought to a vote because it has too much funding.

The road ahead for congressional approval of any funding bill for FY2014, which begins on October 1, is murky.

Last Updated: Aug 01, 2013 9:43 pm ET

House Republican Leaders Give Up on T-HUD Appropriations For Now, Lacking Votes

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 31, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 31, 2013 11:10 pm ET

Republican leaders in the House postponed final consideration of the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD) appropriations bill today when it became clear they did not have the votes to pass it. The bill, which includes funding for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST), is seen as a bellwether of how funding bills for non-defense domestic programs will fare this year.

Adhering to limits imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA), the House passed a budget resolution that allows $967 billion in spending in FY2014. It protects defense spending while taking deeper cuts from non-defense discretionary programs like those in the T-HUD bill. The lack of sufficient Republican support to pass the T-HUD bill is viewed as a signal that the cuts approved by the House Appropriations Committee in conformance with the budget resolution are too steep even for the party whose mantra is to reduce the deficit through spending cuts alone, not tax increases. The bill funds programs in the Department of Transportation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) said he was “deeply disappointed with the decision to pull the bill” from the floor today. He feels the action means that “the House has declined to proceed on implementation of the very budget it adopted just three months ago.”

The Senate did not adhere to the BCA limit in its budget resolution and approved a higher spending limit for FY2014 — $1.058 trillion. It has been struggling to pass its own version of the T-HUD bill because many Republicans on that side of Capitol Hill believe it spends too much, though they have been less unified than in the recent past.

The House has passed four of the 12 regular appropriations bills so far, all of which fund national security programs that were generally protected from the deepest cuts: defense, homeland security, military construction/veterans affairs, and energy/water (the Department of Energy oversees the U.S. nuclear arsenal). Republican leaders clearly thought they had enough of their own members on board to pass the T-HUD bill as well, but concluded today they did not. They say they will resume consideration when the House returns from its August recess, but Rogers is not optimistic. Calling the bill “the first major attempt by the House to consider and pass an Appropriations bill that funds domestic programs under the austere limit” required by the BCA, he concluded that “the prospects for passing this bill in September are bleak at best.”

The House is scheduled to be in session for only nine days in September, leaving them little time to pass appropriations bills before FY2014 begins on October 1. The Senate has not passed any of its appropriations bills yet. The T-HUD bill was the first to reach the Senate floor last week. Debate in the Senate is continuing this week. The Senate also will be in recess in August, but is scheduled to be in session for most of September.

The House T-HUD bill provides $14.16 million for AST; the Senate bill includes $17.01 million. The President’s request was $16.01 million.

Republicans and Democrats on both sides of the Hill complain bitterly about the sequester that was created yy the BCA and insist that it must be replaced by another method of deficit reduction. There is no indication that they are any closer to agreeing on an alternative than they were two years ago, however.

The stalemate means that once again government agencies are likely to be funded through a Continuing Resolution (CR). Usually CRs fund agencies at their current spending levels. In this case, that would be the FY2013 funding levels, which already included steep cuts. For non-defense discretionary agencies like NASA and NOAA, the outlook is grim if they are held to FY2013 funding levels for much or all of FY2014.

Last Updated: Jul 31, 2013 11:10 pm ET

Wheeler Nomination For FCC Chairman Clears Committee – UPDATE

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 30, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: August 2, 2013 12:07 pm ET

UPDATE, August 2, 2013: The White House nominated Mike O’Rielly to fll the vacant Republican seat on the Commission late yesterday. If confirmed, he will serve out the unexpired term of Robert McDowell, who resigned. The term runs through June 30, 2014.

ORIGINAL STORY, July 30, 2013: In addition to approving its version of the 2013 NASA Authorization bill today, the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved the nomination of Thomas Wheeler to be the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

The FCC oversees use of the electromagnetic spectrum and orbital positions by the private sector (NTIA, in the Department of Commerce, does that for government users). It is a critically important player in hard-fought spectrum wars that more and more often pit satellites against the seemingly insatiable demand for terrestrial mobile broadband services. The FCC also sets other requirements for commercial satellite operators, such as responsibly disposing of their satellites at the end of their service life as part of space debris mitigation.

The chairman and two of the other four members of the FCC are from the same party as the President; the other two members are from the opposite party. Often nominations for the FCC and similar governmental bodies are paired so that a Democratic nominee and a Republican nominee move through the Senate confirmation process together. In this case, the White House has not yet nominated a Republican to the FCC. Today, Republicans on the Commerce Committee made clear that they oppose Wheeler’s nomination being considered by the Senate until a Republican nominee is ready. Thune said there was no objection to Wheeler himself, only to the lack of a Republican nominee.

Thus, even though Wheeler made it through committee today, it is difficult to say when he will be in place at the FCC. The last FCC chairman, Julius Genachowski, left in May. FCC Commissioner Mignon Clyburn is serving as acting chairwoman. Jessica Rosenworcel and Ajit Pai are the other two commissioners currently in place.

Wheeler is a venture capitalist and former head of the National Cable Television Association (NCTA) and of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA), both lobbying groups.

Last Updated: Aug 02, 2013 12:07 pm ET

Senate Commerce to Markup 2013 NASA Authorization Bill on Tuesday

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 28, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 28, 2013 12:18 pm ET

The Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee will markup its version of the 2013 NASA Authorization bill on Tuesday, July 30.

Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) introduced the bill, S. 1317, on July 17. Rockefeller chairs the full committee; Nelson chairs the Science and Space Subcommittee. Unlike the last NASA authorization bill in 2010 when Senate Democrats and Republicans (under the leadership of then-Senator Kay Bailey Hutchsion) worked closely together, this bill has no Republican co-sponsors. Nelson painted a grim picture of the likelihood of a NASA authorization bill clearing Congress this year during a talk to the Space Transportation Association in June. He said at the time that a partisan split on the bill was a possibility for “the first time in my memory.”

The NASA bill is one of a dozen pieces of legislation and eight nominations scheduled for action on Tuesday at 2:30 pm ET in 253 Russell Senate Office Building. Among the nominations to be considered is that of Mark Schaefer to be assistant secretary of Commerce for oceans and atmosphere (and a deputy administrator of NOAA).

The Senate bill is quite different from its House counterpart, H.R. 2687, which was marked up by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee on July 18. From the total funding authorized to the direction of NASA’s human space flight program to science priorities, the two pieces of legislation are so different that it is difficult to see how compromise eventually might be reached. Among the difference are:

Total FY2014 NASA funding authorized: Senate bill: $18.100 billion; House bill: $16.865 billion. (The President’s request is $17.715 billion.)
Future of human space flight: Senate bill: requires development of an “exploration strategy” covering a broad range of destinations, but does not mention the Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) specifically; House bill: prohibits spending on ARM, requires a “program” (not just a plan) to develop a “sustained human presence on the Moon and the surface of Mars.”
Science priorities compared to the President’s request: Senate bill: substantial increase for planetary exploration, slight decrease for Earth science, very similar for astrophysics, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), and heliophysics; House bill: even larger increase for planetary exploration, deep cut to Earth science, smaller cut to heliophysics, identical for JWST and astrophysics.

A SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet compares the funding figures recommended in the Senate and House authorization bills, as well as the Senate and House appropriations bills for NASA, compared with the President’s request.

Last Updated: Jul 28, 2013 12:18 pm ET

Space Policy Events for the Week of July 29 – August 2, 2013

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 28, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 28, 2013 1:36 pm ET

The following space policy events may be of interest in the week ahead. The House and Senate are in session this week (and then will be on recess for 5 weeks).

During the Week

As the House and Senate try to complete as much work as possible before their 5-week summer break begins on Friday (returning on September 9), action is expected in committee and on the floor on space policy-related legislation. Not many legislative days are left before the new fiscal year begins on October 1, so appropriations bills are the focus right now. The House is scheduled to meet for only 9 days in September (September 9-12, September 17-20, and September 30). (The Senate will be in session from September 9 through the end of the month.)

On Monday, the Senate will resume consideration of its FY2014 T-HUD appropriations bill (S. 1243) that funds, among other things, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST). The outcome of that debate is viewed as a bellwether on how other appropriations bills may fare in the Senate where long-standing partisan divides on deficit reduction are taking unusual turns. Senate Republicans are less unified than they have been recently on insisting that appropriations bills adhere to the strict top-line limit set by the House Budget Resolution ($967 billion). The Senate Budget Resolution allows $91 billion more — $1.058 trillion — in spending for FY2014. A sufficient number of Senate Republicans voted to allow the T-HUD bill to come to the floor for debate nevertheless, and on Thursday prevented it from being sent back to committee. The outcome of this debate may be instructive. Meanwhile, the House will begin debate on its version of the T-HUD bill (H.R. 2610) on Tuesday. The Senate version provides $1 million more than the President’s request for AST ($17.01 million versus $16.01 million), while the House version provides much less ($14.16 million).

On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee is scheduled to markup its version of the 2013 NASA authorization bill (S. 1317), which is quite different from its House counterpart (H.R. 2687). Also on Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee will markup its version of the FY2014 defense bill, followed by full committee markup on Thursday. The House passed its version of the bill (H.R. 2397) last week. (To keep up to date on the status of space policy-related legislation, see our fact sheet: 113th Congress Legislative Checklist.)

Meanwhile, off the Hill, the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) and many of its committees will be meeting throughout the week at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.

Monday-Tuesday, July 29-30

NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Human Exploration and Operations Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC
NAC Audit, Finance and Analysis Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC

Monday-Wednesday, July 29-31

NAC Science Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC

Tuesday, July 30

Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee Markup FY2014 Defense Bill, 192 Dirksen, 10:30 am ET
Senate Commerce Committee Markup 2013 NASA Authorization Bill, 253 Russell, 2:30 pm ET (along with many other pieces of legislation and nominations)
NAC Technology and Innovation Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm ET
NAC Commercial Space Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 9:15 am – 5:15 pm ET
NAC Education & Public Outreach Committee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm ET

Wednesday, July 31

NAC Human Exploration and Operations Research Subcommittee, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, 1:00-4:00 pm ET

Wednesday-Thursday, July 31-August 1

NASA Advisory Council, NASA HQ, Washington, DC

Thursday, August 1

Senate Appropriations full committee Markup FY2014 Defense Appropriations bill, 106 Dirksen, 10:30 am ET

Last Updated: Jul 28, 2013 1:36 pm ET

Senate Struggles with FY2014 T-HUD Appropriations Bill

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 25, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 25, 2013 9:42 pm ET

The Senate kept the appropriations bill that funds the Department of Transportation and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) alive today, but its ultimate fate remains up in the air.

The Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) bill is the first FY2014 appropriations bill to reach the Senate floor for debate and is heralding debates to come. The Senate Budget Resolution provided substantially more funding ($91 billion) for the Appropriations Committee to spend in its 12 regular FY2014 appropriations bills than its House equivalent. The fundamental difference is between Republicans and Democrats over how to deal with the deficit — by cutting spending only (the Republican approach) or by a combination of spending cuts and tax increases (the Democratic approach).

The Senate version of the T-HUD bill allows $17.01 million for AST, which is part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), which in turn is part of DOT. That’s a million more than the Obama Administration’s request of $16.01 million. By contrast, the House Appropriations Committee would reduce the AST budget to $14.16 million, a cut that Bigelow Aerospace’s Mike Gold characterized as “crippling.”

Senate Republicans are grappling with the consequences of sticking to the steep cuts being put forward by their House counterparts versus going along with the more generous allocations in the Democratic controlled Senate. A sufficient number of Senate Republicans (19) voted to allow the T-HUD bill to come to the floor for consideration and today a vote that would have sent the bill back to committee failed 56-42. The bill will need 60 votes to pass when debate resumes next week, however. The Senate currently has 52 Democrats, 2 independents who usually vote with Democrats, and 46 Republicans.

Senate Appropriations Committee chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) told The Hill newspaper that she was not certain that she had the 60 votes needed to pass the bill, a sentiment echoed by Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), the top Republican on the T-HUD subcommittee. The fate of the T-HUD bill could be a harbinger for what lies ahead on other appropriations bills in the Senate, including the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that includes NASA and NOAA.

Even if the T-HUD bill passes the Senate with its $54 billion intact, that amount is $10 billion more than the House version of the bill. Reaching compromise between the two will be very difficult.

Last Updated: Jul 25, 2013 9:42 pm ET

House and Senate Far Apart on NASA Funding Recommendations

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 22, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 22, 2013 7:05 pm ET

A new SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet shows clearly the considerable differences between the House and Senate funding figures for NASA in FY2014.

NASA’s two authorizing committees — the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee — are working on a new authorization bill for NASA. NASA’s current authorization bill (P.L. 111-267), enacted in 2010, contains funding recommendations only through FY2013, which ends on September 30. The other provisions of the 2010 law remain in effect until and unless they are replaced by a new law, but the funding recommendations expire. The House SS&T Committee approved its 2013 NASA Authorization bill, H.R. 2687, last week. (A Democratic alternative, H.R. 2616, was offered as an amendment, but defeated.) Senators Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) have introduced a Senate version of the bill (S. 1317).

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees have approved their Commerce-Justice-Science bills, which include NASA. The Senate bill and report number are S. 1329 (S. Rept. 113-78). The House has not assigned a bill or report number yet, but the texts are available on the committee’s website.

The table in this free SpacePolicyOnline.com fact sheet compares the recommended funding levels for NASA for FY2014 in the authorization bills and appropriations bills in each chamber. The disparity is quite obvious. The House authorization and appropriations bills would fund NASA at a level of $16.6-$16.9 billion, significantly less than the $17.7 billion requested. The Senate authorization and appropriation bills would fund NASA at $18.0 – $18.1 billion, slightly more than the request.

The disparity reflects strong philosophical differences between the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate on how to deal with the deficit. The House and Senate each passed a Budget Resolution, which sets the top level of spending allowed for government programs, but took completely different approaches. Officially, the two are now supposed to find a compromise so that all of Congress is working to the same number, but that is not expected to happen.

Under the House Budget Resolution, total FY2014 government spending is held to $967 billion and defense spending is protected while larger reductions are made in other discretionary programs, like NASA. The Senate Budget Resolution allows total FY2014 government spending of $1.058 trillion, giving Senate appropriators $91 billion more to spend.

Thus, although progress is being made on NASA’s authorization and appropriations bills, they have a long way to go before compromise will be reached, if it can be. As Senator Nelson said last month, he does not expect Congress to reach decisions on any budget-related legislation until it is forced to raise the debt limit, which probably will not happen until the end of the calendar year.

This fact sheet will be updated when needed.

Last Updated: Jul 22, 2013 7:05 pm ET

Space Policy Events for the Week of July 22-27, 2013

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 21, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 21, 2013 6:20 pm ET

The following space policy events may be of interest in the week ahead. The House and Senate are in session this week.

During the Week

The FY2014 Defense Appropriations bill (H.R. 2397) may come to the House floor this week, although that also was the expectation last week and it did not. It is scheduled for consideration by the House Rules Committee (the last step before going to the floor) on Monday at 5:00 pm ET; 165 amendments have been filed, only one of which appears to directly affect space activities — it would add $10 million for Operationally Responsive Space. Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, lamented last week that there are six appropriations bills that have cleared his committee and are awaiting floor action. He worries that time is running out before the beginning of FY2014 on October 1. The House is scheduled to meet for only 17 more days between now and then (July 22-25, July 30-August 2, September 9-12, September 17-20, and September 30). Among the other bills waiting for action are Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), which includes NASA and NOAA, and Transportation-HUD (T-HUD), which includes the FAA and its Office of Commercial Space Transportation. (The T-HUD bill, H.R. 2610, is also on the Rules Committee’s schedule for July 22, but it is not included in the Majority Leader’s list of legislation headed to the floor this week.)

Of course, that’s just the House. Bills must also pass the Senate — and it may consider its T-HUD bill this week — and the two chambers are working with widely different spending totals, so reaching compromise will be extremely difficult. There is no expectation that Congress will complete the appropriations process by October 1, which will mean a Continuing Resolution (CR), which is likely to continue spending at the FY2013 levels that were subject the sequester and other across-the-board spending cuts. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned his civilian workforce last week that the one-day-a-week furloughs that recently began are likely to continue next year and layoffs are another possibility.

Monday, July 22

House Rules Committee meets on Defense Appropriations and T-HUD appropriations bills, H-313 Capitol, 5:00 pm ET

Tuesday, July 23

MEPAG, virtual, 11:00 am – 3:30 pm ET
MSBR Luncheon Featuring Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Martin’s Crosswinds, Greenbelt, MD, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm ET
Space Foundation Releases White Paper on Weather Satellites, 2325 Rayburn House Office Building, 12:00 – 1:30 pm ET
Alan Stern Lecture on New Horizons Mission to Pluto, Applied Physics Lab, Laurel, MD, 7:30 pm ET

Tuesday-Wednesday, July 23-24

NOAA Science Advisory Board, virtual
- Tuesday, 2:00-5:00 pm ET
- Wednesday, 1:00-4:05 pm ET

Wednesday, July 24

Senate Commerce Cmte Nomination Hearing for Mark E. Schaefer to Be Asst Sec of Commerce for Oceans and Atmos, 253 Russell, 10:00 am ET

Wednesday-Friday, July 24-26

NRC Committee on Human Space Flight, Woods Hole, MA (most or all of this meeting will be closed)

Thursday-Saturday, July 25-27

Space Frontier Foundation’s NewSpace 2013, San Jose, CA

Note: This article was updated at 6:15 pm ET July 21, adding the nomination hearing on Wednesday and the possibility of Senate action on the T-HUD bill.

Last Updated: Jul 21, 2013 6:20 pm ET

U.N. Group Reaches Consensus on TCBMs for Space Activities

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 20, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 20, 2013 1:47 pm ET

A special United Nations group of experts has reached consensus on Transparency and Confidence Building Measures (TCBMs) for space activities.

In a statement, the U.S. State Department commended the U.N. Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) for reaching “landmark consensus” during meetings last week in New York. The State Department explained that the GGE recommended that countries and international organizations “consider and implement a range of measures to enhance the transparency of outer space activities, further international cooperation, consultations, and outreach, and promote international coordination to enhance safety and predictability in the uses of outer space.” The TCBMs would be implemented on a voluntary basis.

Fifty years ago, in December 1963, the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) adopted principles that ultimately were codified in the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which 102 countries had signed and ratified as of January 2013 (another 26 countries have signed it). Among the principles are that exploration and use of outer space shall be for the benefit of, and in the interests of, all countries. The State Department said that the GGE consensus “sends a strong signal” that countries “must remain committed to enhance the welfare of humankind by cooperating with others to maintain the long-term sustainability, safety, security, and stability of the space environment.”

The Obama Administration made TCBMs a centerpiece of its strategy for working with other countries to ensure “space sustainability” — an effort to ensure that space can be utilized in the long-term by improving cooperation and reducing the risks of misunderstanding and miscommunication. The Secure World Foundation has several fact sheets explaining space sustainability and TCBMs.

Avoiding the creation of space debris is probably the best known example of space sustainability. Though the term reflects much broader aspirations, the literal explosion of threats to space operations from space debris catalyzed the debate over space sustainability after China’s test of an anti-satellite (ASAT) device against one of its own satellites in 2007 created more than 3,000 pieces of debris and the accidental collision of an operational U.S. Iridium commercial communications satellite and a defunct Russian government satellite in 2009 created even more.

The United States led the effort to establish the 15-member GGE, which was officially created by UNGA Resolution A/RES/65/68 in January 2011. Russia chaired the group; the other 14 members were Brazil, Chile, China, France, Italy, Kazakhstan, Nigeria, South Korea, Romania, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States. It completed its work on July 12, 2013 according to the U.N. and will submit its study to the UNGA at its 68th session this fall.

Last Updated: Jul 20, 2013 1:47 pm ET

House and Senate Committee Actions Today Highlight Divide on NASA Funding

By Marcia Smith | Posted: July 18, 2013 12:00 am ET | Last Updated: July 18, 2013 11:15 pm ET

The Senate Appropriations Committee and the House Science, Space and Technology (SS&T) Committee each marked up their NASA bills today. The markups themselves, not to mention the funding figures therein, demonstrate the magnitude of the divide between the two chambers on NASA’s FY2014 funding prospects.

Appropriations committees determine how much funding agencies like NASA will get. Authorization committees, like the House SS&T Committee, set policy and recommend funding levels; they do not have any money to spend, however.

The latter point was stressed by Democrats on the House SS&T Committee who unsuccessfully sought to restore funds to NASA that were cut in the Republican version of the 2013 NASA authorization bill. That bill (H.R. 2687) recommends that NASA receive $16.9 billion for FY2014, a significant cut from the President’s request of $17.7 billion. Among the 35 amendments offered by Democrats today was a complete substitute for the Republican bill, crafted by Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), that recommended $18.1 billion. Edwards is the top Democrat on the Space Subcommittee and she has introduced her plan as a separate bill, H.R. 2616. She offered it as an amendment during subcommittee markup last week and again today. It was defeated both times. Her argument is that authorization committees need to set vision and goals and recommend the funding levels needed to achieve them, not focus on whether those funding recommendations fit within a specific budget envelope. That is the job of appropriators, she insists.

Republicans remained adamant during markup today that their funding figures conform with the 2011 Budget Control Act and adopting the Democratic recommendations would be irresponsible. The Republican version of the bill was approved by the committee on a party-line vote. The top Democrat on the full committee, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), made an impassioned opening statement calling it a “terribly flawed piece of legislation.” After it was reported from committee, committee Democrats issued a press release saying that Republicans had “set NASA up to fail.” A major Democratic complaint is that the Republican bill does not provide the funding NASA needs to achieve the tasks required therein. For their part, committee Republicans lauded their bill as making tough choices. “That is our priority — to take the initiative, make decisions and govern,” committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) said.

Meanwhile, across Capitol Hill, the Senate Appropriations Committee made short work of marking up the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill, which includes NASA. The bill was marked up at subcommittee level on Tuesday in just a few minutes and the same was true this morning at the full committee level. What little discussion there was focused on Department of Justice programs, not NASA or the other science and technology agencies in the bill. The top Republican on that committee, Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), reiterated that he will vote against the bill when it reaches the Senate floor because the $18.1 billion it approves is too high in his opinion, but he agrees with the priorities it sets and offered no amendments.

The current status of NASA’s FY2014 funding bills is as follows:

House: The House Appropriations Committee yesterday approved $16.6 billion for NASA, even less than the $16.9 billion recommended by the House SS&T committee today in H.R. 2687.
Senate: The Senate Appropriations Committee today approved $18.1 billion for NASA, the same as what is recommended in the Senate version of the authorization bill (S. 1317) introduced by Senators Bill Nelson and Jay Rockefeller yesterday. (It is also the same as the Edwards bill in the House, H.R. 2616.)

It is difficult to see how the House-Senate differences, which are Republican-Democratic differences, will be resolved. The Republican-controlled House is working on total government funding figures approved in the House Budget Resolution that require cuts to agencies like NASA even more severe than what is required by the sequester. The Democratic-controlled Senate made fundamentally different assumptions in its Budget Resolution, which is why Senate appropriators have much more money to work with. As Politico commented at the time, the two Budget Resolutions “aren’t even apples and oranges. They’re more like apples and bicycles.”

Category: Commercial