House Authorizers Demand Documents From NASA After NASA Misses Deadline

NASA did not meet yesterday’s deadline to provide the House Science and Technology (HS&T) Committee with information and analysis about the agency’s human spaceflight plans and budget. NASA did send a pro forma response to the committee’s June 10 letter, but said only that the information was not yet ready. Today, the committee’s leadership sent another letter to NASA Administrator Bolden demanding that the agency provide the documents NASA used to formulate its proposal by June 25, 2010.

“Since NASA has failed to provide the Committee with any detailed supporting materials with which Congress can judge the proposed human spaceflight plan, Congress must insist upon production of all materials NASA relied upon in formulating its proposal.

“We therefore demand that the following records…be produced to the Committee on Science and Technology:

“1) All records relating to the development of NASA’s human spaceflight proposal included within the FY2011 budget request, including any analysis of the executability of the proposed plan through 2025;
“2) All records relating to the development of NASA’s revised human spaceflight proposal announced by the President on April 15, 2010, including any analysis of the executability of the proposed plan through 2025;
“3) All records relating to any budgetary analysis performed by NASA relating to NASA’s human spaceflight proposal, including any analysis of the executability of the proposed plan through 2025;
“4) All records relating to any budgetary analysis performed by NASA relating to the Constellation program generally, and Ares-I, Orion, and Ares-V specifically which was produced or utilized in formulation of NASA’s human spaceflight proposal;
“5) All records relating to analysis or estimates of the employment impacts of cancelling the Constellation program both for the agency and for the private sector, and all records relating to analysis or estimates of the employment impacts of implementing NASA’s human spaceflight plan;
“6) All other records NASA deems relevant to the support of the Administration’s human spaceflight plan.”

The letter ends with the terse statement that “We sincerely hope that in the future, NASA engages this Committee and this Congress in a more cooperative manner.” Like the earlier letter, it is signed by the chairman and ranking member of the full committee, Rep. Bart Gordon (D-TN) and Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX), and the chairwoman and ranking member of its Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) and Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX).

The committee has held a number of hearings on the President’s proposal, most recently on May 26. A memo prepared by committee staff as background for the hearing expertly lays out the questions committee members are facing as they draft a new NASA authorization bill.