Sessions, Shelby restore money cut from Bush budget
03/13/04
NASA's new mission to return to the moon got back on track in the wee hours of Friday morning, as Alabama's two U.S. senators pushed through an amendment restoring $600 million that had been cut from President Bush's budget request.
About 1 a.m. Friday, the Senate approved the budget amendment, introduced by U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Mobile, and co-sponsored by U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Tuscaloosa.
With the amendment, the Senate approved a $2.36 trillion fiscal 2005 federal budget that includes $16.2 billion for NASA, the amount Bush originally requested. Sessions said he also fought to make sure the budget resolution assumes that Bush's space plans will get full funding through 2009.
The Senate Budget Committee had only approved a $200 million increase for NASA, leaving it $600 million short of Bush's request.
Adding that money back would ensure NASA's ability to proceed with plans to return the space shuttle to flight and eventually build a lunar base and launch humans toward Mars, Sessions said. Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center would likely benefit from the new space priorities as NASA's chief center for space propulsion, he said.
Sessions said he called NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe after the Senate restored the money, and O'Keefe was cautiously excited. The House has yet to pass its budget, and the Senate and House versions will have to be reconciled, so the extra money for NASA still isn't a lock, Sessions said Friday.
O'Keefe "thought it was very critical that we win this first round," Sessions said.
If the NASA budget ends up being cut, plans to return the space shuttle fleet to flight or the ongoing construction of the International Space Station would have to be cut, said Doc Mirelson, a NASA spokesman in Washington.
"Something would have to suffer," Mirelson said.
Sessions said the extra $600 million for NASA was moved from a budget used to keep up government buildings and pay federal employees. He said that budget had "considerable fat," and needed trimming more than NASA's mission.
"We need to do a better job in Washington of evaluating what our nation's priorities are," Sessions said. "When you contain spending, it doesn't mean that every program should get no growth.
"Clearly, the Congress is looking to contain spending ... but you have to ask yourself, 'Do we value our heritage as an exploring nation, and do we want to continue to lead the world in space and science exploration?' " Sessions said.
Sessions said the battle to keep the money in the NASA budget is far from over. House members have loudly questioned the wisdom of spending money on an expanded space mission while the country is in an expensive war in Iraq.
"It's important to note that ultimately, the legislative process has a long way to go," Sessions said. "There will be a number of runs at this money. Just because it's in the budget doesn't mean it has to be spent."