Obama Administration "Strongly Supports" CJS and T-HUD Senate Bills

The Senate is beginning debate on the “minibus” appropriations bill, H.R. 2112, that combines the bills for Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS), and Transportation-HUD (T-HUD). The Obama Administration said today that it “strongly supports” passage of the bill.

The CJS bill includes NASA and NOAA. In its Statement of Administration Policy (SAP), the Administration supported the Senate Appropriations Committee’s actions. For NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System, which would receive $920 million instead of the $1.07 billion requested, the SAP notes that it is less than what is needed to maintain the current launch date of 2017 for JPSS-1 and “encourages” the Senate not to cut any further.

For NASA, the SAP “appreciates” support for the Space Launch System, Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, and James Webb Space Telescope. Although the committee significantly cut funding for space technology, the SAP simply “urges” the full Senate to provide that level of funding ($637 million instead of the $1.02 billion requested). Similarly for commercial crew, which would be cut from $850 million to $500 million, the SAP “encourages” the Senate to provide sufficient funding to prevent delays in the program.

The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation is not mentioned in the T-HUD part of the SAP. Its FY2012 request of $26.5 million was cut in half by the Senate Appropriations Committee.