House Passes Year-Long CR, NASA Would Get $18.9 Billion

The House passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) yesterday that would fund the government through September 30, 2011, the end of the current fiscal year.

CR’s typically extend an agency’s existing budget for a certain period of time, but the version passed yesterday by the House is different. While the total amount of funding in the bill, $1.09 trillion, is the same as the current level according to Politico, NASA’s budget, for example, would rise from its FY2010 level, though is still less than the request. The CR also spells out in some detail how NASA is to spend the money, not unlike a traditional appropriations measure.

Instead of being held at its FY2010 level of $18.7 billion, NASA would get $18.93 billion. That is just shy of the $19.00 billion requested by the President.

Funds are specifically provided for the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle ($1.2 billion), and “not less than” $250 million for commercial crew, $300 million for commercial cargo, and $1.8 billion for a heavy lift launch system that has an initial lift capability of not less than 130 tons. Technology funds that were in the budget request under the aeronautics account (for low TRL technology development supported by Bobby Braun’s office) and under the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate account are combined; a total of $559 million is provided. The bill also lifts the restrictions that were in the 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act against cancelling the Constellation program or initiating a new program until Congress provided further direction.

The text of the legislation is available on the House Appropriations Committee’s website. The NASA provisions are in Sec. 2206.

The bill still must pass the Senate. Although Senator Inouye (D-HI), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee may try to replace it with an omnibus appropriations measure, expectations are low that he will succeed. The impact on the deficit of President Obama’s deal with Republicans on extending Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy and exempting estates of over $5 million from more of the estate tax, plus extending unemployment benefits, is seen as dooming any effort for an omnibus.