The Senate passed the FY2010 Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill (H.R. 3326) today. The next step is a conference committee. Congress Daily (subscription required) reports that negotiations with the House have been ongoing for several weeks and the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Inouye (D-HI), hopes to have the conference completed by the end of this week.

Congress Daily also reports that the House and Senate informally are close to agreement on the DOD authorization bill. Formally, the House was only expected to name its conferees tonight, with a meeting of the conference committee scheduled for tomorrow and a House vote expected on Thursday, according to the newspaper. Not sure about the difference between an authorization and an appropriation? See our “What’s a Markup?” fact sheet.

The Senate began debating the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill today (H.R. 2847). Regarding the Senate Appropriations Committee’s action on NASA’s part of the bill, the Obama Administration’s Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) cites only the reduction of $18.7 million from the request for the innovation program as a problem.

Unlike the House-passed bill, the version being debated by the Senate includes full funding for the Constellation program. The House cut that request back to the FY2009 level, sparking concern by the Administration as expressed in the SAP that was released at that time. The differences between the House and Senate versions will have to be reconciled during conference.

The Senate is expected to conclude debate on the DOD appropriations bill (H.R. 2847) tomorrow (Tuesday) and possibly pass the conference report on the Department of Energy bill (H.R. 3183)..

The FY2010 authorization bill for the Intelligence Community (H.R. 2701/S. 1494) remains stuck as negotiators try to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions. One of the sticking points is competing proposals for the country’s spy satellites, according to Congress Daily (subscription required).

The bill is under a veto threat because of language concerning which Members of Congress must be notified about the most sensitive intelligence matters, but spy satellites are another bone of contention. As reported from their respective committees, the House version (H. Rept. 111-186) supported the Obama Administration’s proposal under which the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) would buy and launch new electro-optical intelligence satellites and buy more data from commercial imagery companies. The Senate version (S. Rept. 111-55) would have NRO buy more satellites that are cheaper and less sophisticated, a plan that critics call “untested and therefore riskier” according to Congress Daily.

As fiscal year 2010 begins today, Congress continues work on the appropriations bills that fund government activities.

• The President signed into law last night the Legislative Branch appropriations bill that includes the Continuing Resolution to keep the government operating until the end of October. It is the first of the 12 FY2010 appropriations bills to be enacted.
• The House passed the conference report on the Energy-Water appropriations bill (H.R. 3183) today; Senate action is expected next week.
• The Senate may pass the Department of Defense appropriations bill (H.R. 3326) as early as today, after which conferees need to be named to reconcile the Senate- and House-passed versions.
• According to Congress Daily (subscription required), the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, H.R. 2847 (which includes NASA and NOAA), may be the next appropriations bill to reach the Senate floor. As with the DOD bill, once the Senate passes the bill, it will have to be conferenced with the House.

The other eight bills are not particularly related to the space program, so are not tracked here. For completeness, however, here is a scorecard as of mid-afternoon October 1:

• Agriculture: conferees completed action yesterday
• Homeland Security: in conference
• Transportation/HUD and Interior/Environment: waiting for the House to appoint conferees (the Senate has appointed them)
• Financial Services, Labor/HHS/Education, Military Construction/Veterans Affairs, and State Department/Foreign Operations: awaiting floor action in the Senate (along with CJS).

The Thomas website of the Library of Congress has a more complete list of actions on appropriations bills. For an explanation of the steps Congress takes to pass legislation, read our “What’s a Markup?” Fact Sheet.

Leonard David reports in Space News that cubesats are adding to the problem of space debris. He quotes John Lyver of NASA’s Office of Safety and Mission Assurance as saying that cubesats are neat, cheap and do great stuff, but “they are increasing orbital debris…and it’s uncontrolled orbital debris.” Meanwhile, through a request for information (RFI), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is seeking innovative ideas for how to remove debris from orbit. Responses are due October 30, 2009.

The Senate completed action on the Interior-Environment bill today and turned its attention to the DOD appropriations bill (H.R. 3326). No votes are scheduled tomorrow (Friday) and Monday is Yom Kippur and the Senate will not be in session.

Meanwhile, House and Senate conferees on the FY2010 Legislative Branch appropriations bill (H.R. 2918) agreed to add a one-month Continuing Resolution (CR) for the rest of the government to that bill instead of moving a separate measure. The “Leg Branch” bill is expected to be approved before the new fiscal year starts next Thursday (October 1). The House is expected to take it up tomorrow.

According to Congress Daily (subscription required), the CR —

• funds most government programs at FY09 levels through the end of October, with a few exceptions such as veterans’ health care and the Census Bureau;
• includes a provision barring federal funding for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN);
• includes language to help cover a budget shortfall by allowing the Postal Service to reduce
  payments designed to prefund retiree health benefits; and
• extends various authorizations, including surface and aviation transportation programs.

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.

Congress Daily (subscription required) reports that either the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) or Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill could reach the Senate floor next week. CJS funds NASA and NOAA. (See our legislative checklist for more information on the bills.)

The newspaper quotes Senate Majority Leader Reid as expressing optimism that conference agreement could be reached on five of the 12 appropriations bills by the beginning of the new fiscal year on October 1. The House is expected to debate a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) next week to keep agencies whose bills have not passed operating, according to Congress Daily.

General Robert Kehler, head of Air Force Space Command, told the annual conference of the Air Force Association that “persistent hardware and software problems” with the Space Based Infrared Satellite System (SBIRS) “have not yet been solved,” according to DODBuzz.

SBIRS (formerly SBIRS-High) has been plagued with problems since its inception in 1996 and has suffered repeated “Nunn-McCurdy” breaches requiring DOD to restructure the program and recertify the need for it. It is intended to replace the Defense Support Program (DSP) early warning satellites, though it has a broader set of requirements. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has issued numerous reports about SBIRS. In May 2009 testimony on challenges facing DOD space programs, GAO noted that the cost for SBIRS has grown to $12.2 blllion, $7.5 billion more than its original estimate, while the number of geosynchronous satellites has been reduced from five to four and the launch of the first GEO satellite has been delayed by 7 years. (The SBIRS program also is designed to have sensors on satellites in highly elliptical orbits (HEO); the first two of those have been launched. Originally there was a companion “SBIRS-Low” program, now the Space Tracking and Surveillance System. For a summary of SBIRS’ history, see GAO’s 2008 report.)

The 2009 GAO testimony stated that the SBIRS program planned to have a new plan in place by June 2009, but in its report (S. Rept. 111-74) on the DOD appropriations bill last week, the Senate Appropriations Committee said that the committee was informed in June of additional schedule delays and cost increases “associated with a number of parts quality issues.”

Acknowledging the challenges with SBIRS, the Air Force requested funds in the FY2010 budget for a follow-on system called Third Generation Infra-Red Surveillance program or 3GIRS. The Senate Appropriations Committee said that “Due to the chronic problems [with SBIRS] and the importance of missile warning for national security,” the committee supports 3GIRS. The House-passed version of the bill (H.R. 3326, H. Rept. 111-230) cuts the $143 million request for 3GIRS by $104 million, leaving only $39 million.

As reported on NASAWatch, Assaf Ramon, son of Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon, was killed in the crash of a fighter jet in Hebron, Israel yesterday. Ilan Ramon perished in the space shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003, Now his son, Assaf, has died in the crash of an F-16 plane he was piloting; an investigation is underway.