Senate Appropriations Report Language on NASA
As reported in FYI #94 , Senate appropriators have now marked up the FY 2002 VA/HUD funding bill. This bill recommends $14,561.4 million for NASA. This represents an increase of $276.1 million (1.9 percent) over current-year funding, and $50.0 million (0.4 percent) over President Bush’s request. It is less of an increase, however, than the $14,926.4 million recommended by VA/HUD appropriators in the House (see FYI #88 ). The House committee report is not yet available.
OFFICE OF SPACE SCIENCE
For space science, the committee made a number of changes to the requested amount of $2,786.4 million, including several earmarks. It appears that the committee bill would decrease funding somewhat from the request. Some of the major changes to the request, with explanatory quotes from the committee report, are listed below:
Mars Surveyor (future Surveyor projects) would be reduced by $50.0 million, “subject to a detailed plan on future Mars missions beyond the proposed 2007 mission....”
“Focused research and technology for the Europa Orbiter/X-2000 program” would be decreased by $48.6 million, while an increase of $43.6 million would be provided
Sun-Earth connections (SEC) focused research for the Solar Probe mission would be increased by $5.0 million, with directions for NASA to “consolidate management for this mission with its existing SEC/Living With a Star program in lieu of the proposed termination.” An increase of $20.0 million is recommended The bill would increase the funding for the Pluto Kuiper Express (PKE) mission by $25.0 million. FY 2001 funding for the Office of Space Science was $2,321.0 million.
Again, the committee made a number of changes to the requested amount of $1,515.0 million, many in the form of earmarks. It appears that funding would be increased over the request. Some of the major changes to the request are listed below with explanatory quotes from the report:
The bill would provide an increase of $31.1 million “for the EOSDIS program element.” Within this element, an increase of $40.0 million is recommended for the EOSDIS Core System and funding for the EOS Federation would be reduced by $8.9 million.
The bill would provide an increase of $7.5 million
The report also states, FY 2001 funding for the Office of Earth Science was $1,484.6 million.
The FY 2002 request for this office was $360.9 million, and included the recommendation that space station research funding be transferred to this office. The bill would provide an additional $50.0 million over the request, as follows:
Total funding for this office would grow to $410.9 million.The report continues,
FY 2001 funding for the Office of Biological and Physical Research was $312.9 million.
Human Space Flight would receive $6,868.0 million, less than the FY 2002 request but more than FY 2001 funding. Within this account, $1,681.3 million would be provided for International Space Station
The committee report contains extensive text regarding the latest projections of cost overruns to the space station and its impact on the number of crew and research capacity. This text, and similar text from the House committee report, will be highlighted in a separate FYI.
Among NASA’s academic programs, the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program would receive $19.1 million, equal to the request and to current funding. NASA’s EPSCoR program would receive $10.0 million, more than the request but equal to current funding. Minority university research and education activities would receive the requested level of $82.1 million, $26.2 million greater than FY 2001 funding. The committee added many earmarks to this section as well.
