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Author
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Topic: 2010 mid-term elections and NASA's budget
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moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 11-03-2010 03:21 AM
   
Now that the Republicans have control of the House of Representatives, what will be the impact on NASA's budget? |
KSCartist
Member Posts: 2896
From: Titusville, FL USA
Registered: Feb 2005
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posted 11-03-2010 04:31 AM
It has been reported that the Republicans have vowed to reduce spending to 2008 levels. If so NASA's budget as well as other federal agencies will be cut.The first casualty could be STS-135. |
issman1
Member Posts: 1042
From: UK
Registered: Apr 2005
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posted 11-03-2010 05:05 AM
As I stated on another topic, both incumbent and newly-elected politicians should think about NASA's future instead of wanting to score cheap points. |
SpaceAholic
Member Posts: 4437
From: Sierra Vista, Arizona
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-03-2010 09:58 AM
A decision to reduce spending which would likely include NASA's budget may be required to spread the pain - this doesn't equate to "scoring cheap points" but reflects the reality of just how serious the nation's debt and deficit crisis is. The country is faced with some very hard choices - the real question is whether the newly elected congress and President will have the fortitude to make the tough calls based on what is in the best interests of the country rather then political expediency. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 42981
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted 11-03-2010 10:08 AM
Space News: Election Brings New Leadership to NASA Oversight Committees The Nov. 2 elections that will put Republicans in charge of the U.S. House of Representatives in January likely means that two vocal critics of U.S. President Barack Obama's new direction for NASA will assume leadership of committees that oversee the space agency... Reps. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) and Ralph Hall (R-Texas), who both won re-election and are expected to assume leadership of key NASA oversight committees, have criticized Obama's plans to cancel the nation's Moon program and outsource crew transit to and from low Earth orbit. Wolf, the ranking member of the powerful House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee, which oversees NASA spending, is expected to assume the panel's chairmanship come January. ...Hall, the ranking member of the House Science and Technology Committee that oversees NASA policy and which sets overall funding levels for congressional appropriators to consider... In the meantime, with incoming Republican leaders threatening to dial back discretionary spending across the federal government next year, the $19 billion Congress authorized for NASA in 2011 could be in jeopardy. House Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is expected to become speaker of the House in January, voted against the recently enacted NASA legislation and more broadly has pledged to roll back spending in an effort to reduce the federal deficit. |
Spacepsycho
Member Posts: 818
From: Huntington Beach, Calif.
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 11-03-2010 11:08 AM
I disagree that NASA's budget will be cut because Republicans see the across the board value NASA provides in education, exploration, science and it's high level of expertise among it's employees. When I was in DC last month, I spoke with my congressman who's a Republican, he's on the Science and Tech committee and I asked him since the shuttle is cancelled, will congress cut future NASA budgets. He told me that there was no way he would vote to cut NASA's budget and that they were making the best use of taxpayers money of any government agency. Was he blowing smoke up my skirt, maybe, he's a politician after all, but so far in the years he's been in congress, he's always followed through with promises and voted the way his people elected him to do. When I do school presentations I ask the kids and teachers if they know how much money NASA gets out of every tax dollar and I get everything from 10% on up. They're shocked to hear the real figure is only .6 of a penny out of every dollar collected. I have a penny that I cut into a .6 for a visual effect. All you got to do is tell the folks what is going on and educate them about the truth because they have no idea. NASA has done a good job at education outreach to kids, but a very very poor job at educating the public at large about their mission and how well our tax dollars are spent. What they really need is a good PR firm to state their case to the public, if they want to get broad support among the great unwashed. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 11-03-2010 11:50 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Spacepsycho:
... but a very very poor job at educating the public at large about their mission and how well our tax dollars are spent. What they really need is a good PR firm to state their case to the public, if they want to get broad support among the great unwashed.
Was ever thus, as in the demise of Apollo. |
Fra Mauro
Member Posts: 1586
From: Bethpage, N.Y.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted 11-03-2010 01:31 PM
The Republicans, who screamed about jobs, might be reluctant, to end programs that will terminate more workers. They are likely to go after the President's big programs. The two new chairmen are NASA supporters as well. And if they try to decimate NASA, we the people will have to get remind them who is boss. Fighting for a ambitious space program is an ongoing battle, no matter who is the President or who controls Congress. |
fredtrav
Member Posts: 1673
From: Birmingham AL
Registered: Aug 2010
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posted 11-03-2010 01:40 PM
I think you may see some small "demonstration" cuts to show they are serious about cutting the budget. I do not think you will see slash and burn however. They are even talking about cuts in the defense budget which is something Republicans rarely do.I do believe going forward you will see more support for the program however. |
Spacepsycho
Member Posts: 818
From: Huntington Beach, Calif.
Registered: Aug 2004
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posted 11-03-2010 04:03 PM
quote:
Originally posted by moorouge:
Was ever thus, as in the demise of Apollo.
Actually the reason the Apollo program was cancelled was due to that famous Senator William Proxmire and his rabid hatred of space exploration. He called manned space exploration "a stupid fantasy," "a waste of taxpayers money," "a budget he would cut to the bone ASAP" and "a meaningless pursuit leading to nowhere." He was one of the key politicians who were responsible for cutting NASA's budget that ended the Apollo program and there is a famous quote where he told the head of NASA (paraphrased), "if you people want a reusable shuttle for the USA's next generation of spacecraft, you MUST destroy everything associated to the Apollo program." Unfortunately whoever was running NASA at the time thought a reusable vehicle would be better and cheaper, than to use existing Apollo technology that worked brilliantly and could lift huge payloads into space. Oops. As a result all of the Apollo engineering molds from every contractor was destroyed and scrapped. The rational was that the politicians didn't want to be funding two different manned spacecraft, so the destruction of all things Apollo would force the engineers to build the shuttle. Once again, idiot politicians doing what they do best, screwing up whatever they touch. Then again while NASA has some of the most dedicated and brilliant minds this country has produced, they do not encourage an environment that promotes innovation and it's a place where everything is done by committees ad nausea to get anything accomplished. |
moorouge
Member Posts: 2454
From: U.K.
Registered: Jul 2009
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posted 11-03-2010 06:12 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Spacepsycho:
Actually the reason the Apollo program was cancelled was due to that famous Senator William Proxmire and his rabid hatred of space exploration.
My response was to the comment about the PR during the latter part of the Apollo programme. NASA freely admitted that they underestimated this even to the extent of having to pay TV networks to carry some of the coverage of the last missions.I've no doubt that Senator Proxmire played a part also. As has been discussed in another thread, Apollo was not widely supported towards the end and politicians are very quick to 'catch the public mood'. |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 11-04-2010 10:31 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Spacepsycho:
I have a penny that I cut into a .6 for a visual effect...
How did you do that? Just curious
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frap
New Member Posts:
From:
Registered:
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posted 11-06-2010 08:51 AM
NASA needs an independent budget divorced from 'local' politics. How to accomplish this, I don't know, but NASA needs to educate the public regarding the ratio between spending vs. results as others have suggested. That might help. This subject frustrates me to no end. In my opinion, neither party is worth a flip regarding space exploration. The Republicans are big on rhetoric, but managed to underfund Constellation. The Democrats killed Constellation because it was a Bush program. No different from Nixon and Apollo as Apollo was Kennedy's. And Proxmire, Mondale and all the rest who could see no value in what NASA returned vs. what was put in can just go to... Did I mention this really frustrates me? |
Fezman92
Member Posts: 1031
From: New Jersey, USA
Registered: Mar 2010
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posted 11-06-2010 06:02 PM
quote:
Originally posted by frap:
NASA needs an independent budget divorced from 'local' politics.
I agree. I know I am comparing apples to cell phones here, but NASA should get the same budgetary discretion that the CIA has. The CIA says "we need x amount of money" and they get it, no questions asked. Why can't the same idea be applied to NASA? |
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