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Senate Appropriations Committee Acts on NASA Budget

July 14, 2006

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee passed a $16.75 billion budget for NASA and also passed the Mikulski-Hutchison amendment for a $1 billion dollar “emergency” supplement to pay for shuttle repair and recovery. (The amendment actually specifies $2 billion over two years). The final total not including the supplement was $500 million more than the previous year and very close to the level passed by the House of Representatives.

The Planetary Society strongly supports the amendment for the emergency supplement. The Administration’s proposed budget decimated space science and planetary exploration planning for the next five years to pay for those shuttle recovery costs.

While the emergency supplement does not specify exactly how NASA should use the funds, their report noted that NASA shall “give priority to programs that were cut in order to pay for the return to flight.” Ninety-five percent of those programs were from planetary missions.

Although the totals were nearly the same, the Senate bill includes a number of earmarks and program specifications quite different than the House bill. Of particular interest is that the Senate bill does not specify any funding for either a Europa mission or Terrestrial Planet Finder, nor did they comment on the Mars program. The House had supported all of these and the restoration of research and analysis funds.

The Committee did comment on NASA’s earlier attempts to cancel the SOFIA and DAWN missions (now both reinstated), stating “this calls into question the credibility of the science directorate in making budget decisions and determining scientific priorities.”

If the emergency amendment passes the full Senate and is accepted by the House, funds should be available for the Europa mission, Terrestrial Planet Finder, a full Mars program, and research and analysis. But the “if” in that sentence is huge -- opposition to the amendment has been expressed even by some in the Committee, and a floor fight can be expected.

In a conference, likely to be held in September, the House and Senate will resolve differences in the two bills, including both the amendment (if it passes the Senate) and the many earmarks and science omissions. If the emergency amendment fails, the differences in the bills will be harder to resolve.

The vote by the full Senate and debate on the amendment, now co-sponsored by Senators DeWine, Landrieu, and Bennett, in addition to Senators Mikulski and Hutchison, has not yet been scheduled.