Senate Appropriators Repeat Prohibition on Cancelling Constellation

The Senate Appropriations Committee added language to a supplemental appropriations bill yesterday restating the prohibition on cancelling the Constellation program that already is in the FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 111-117). Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL), ranking member of the Commerce-Justice-Science subcommittee that funds NASA, issued a statement saying that “NASA is now attempting to undermine current law … by slow rolling contracts and pressuring companies to self terminate. It is disappointing that the political appointees at NASA have so much trouble following the letter and spirit of the law.”

The bill otherwise is not about NASA. It funds operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and provides aid for recovering from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The bill could be debated on the Senate floor next week. The House passed a supplemental appropriations bill for FEMA disaster relief and youth jobs initiatives in March (H.R. 4899) and the two could be combined.

Senator Shelby co-sponsored the amendment with Senator Bob Bennett (R-UT). Senator Bennett said that he remains “confident that this administration has made a critical mistake in cancelling the Constellation and Ares programs.” He vowed that reversing that decision would be a top priority for him this year. The solid rocket motors for the Ares program are made in Utah. Senator Bennett focused on the potential impact of cancelling Ares on jobs in Utah and on the Department of Defense’s need for solid rocket motors. He raised the latter point at a hearing on the Air Force budget before the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee on Wednesday as well. Senator Bennett is up for reelection this year and lost the backing of the Utah Republican party last week in what many view as an anti-incumbent mood in the nation.