UPDATE: Rep. Aderholt Asks GAO to Investigate If NASA Is Breaking the Law

UPDATE: This article is updated to include the names of the other Members of Congress who signed the letter.

Representative Robert Aderholt (R-AL) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Friday asking for an investigation into whether NASA is violating the law regarding the Constellation program according to a press release from his office. Rep. Aderholt is a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA.

According to his press release, Rep. Aderholt is asking GAO to determine if “NASA’s actions regarding the Constellation program, as well as the extent to which it is working on a new, unauthorized plan, violates law.” The FY2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act prohibits NASA from spending any funds to cancel Constellation or initiate a new program without specific congressional approval in a subsequent appropriations act.

The other 15 Members of Congress who signed the letter are:

Rep. Parker Griffith (R-AL)
Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL)
Rep. Jo Bonner (R-AL)
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL)
Rep. John Culberson (R-TX)
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas (D-FL)
Rep. Ralph Hall (R-TX)
Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL)
Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX)
Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT)
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-CA)
Rep. Gene Green (D-TX)
Rep. Steve LaTourette (R-OH)
Rep. John Fleming (R-LA)

As was true with a previous letter sent to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden on the same subject, perhaps what is most telling about this request to GAO is who did NOT sign it — the chair and ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA (Rep. Alan Mollohan and Rep. Frank Wolf), and the chair of the House Science and Technology Committee (Rep. Bart Gordon) and its Space and Aeronautics subcommittee (Rep, Gabrielle Giffords).