Senate Hearing Next Week On Implementing NASA Authorization Act

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) will chair a hearing next week to look at how NASA can pay for the program outlined in the newly enacted 2010 NASA Authorization Act if the agency does not get more funding. The hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s subcommittee on Science and Space is on November 18, 2010 at 10:00 in 253 Russell Senate Office Building.

Florida Today quotes Senator Nelson as saying that he wants to find out from NASA’s Chief Financial Officer, Beth Robinson, what NASA will do if the agency is level-funded next year — “‘We want to know: Is she going to follow the law instead of them going off on their own making decisions that are contrary to the law?'” The newspaper reports that other witnesses will be Presidential science adviser John Holdren and someone from the Government Accountability Office. The committee’s website does not list the witnesses as of yet.