Washington Updates

On July 13, the House Committee on Appropriations passed its FY 2012 Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies (CJS) bill, which includes funds for NASA and NOAA. The CJS bill would appropriate $16.8 billion in spending for NASA, which is $1.9 billion less than the President requested for FY 2012. In formulating the budget decrease, the…

On June 14, the House Committee on Appropriations passed its FY 2012 Defense Appropriations bill, which includes $530 billion in basic spending – $9 billion less than the President requested for FY 2012. Despite the decrease, the legislation increases base funding for the Department of Defense by $17 billion over the FY 2011 budget. In…

On June 22, the Senate confirmed former CIA director Leon Panetta to replace Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense. Also in June, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed S. 1254, the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2012. In total, the bill authorizes $547 billion in base funding for the Department of Defense, $5.9 billion…

Space Foundation Chief Executive Officer Elliot Pulham testified May 18 before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on the importance of a robust space program (the official topic of the hearing was The Contributions of Space to National Imperatives). The other participants were Frank Slazer, vice president of space systems, Aerospace Industries Association; Dr. Christopher…

The Space Foundation has updated its report providing an overview and comparison of the NASA budget. The report provides an overview of FY 2011 NASA budget request and legislation, breaking it down into the President’s FY 2011 Budget Request, FY 2011 funds authorized by the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and the FY 2011 Enacted…

In May, the House Space & Aeronautics Subcommittee held two hearings: Office of Commercial Space Transportation’s Fiscal Year 2012 Budget Request NASA’s Commercial Cargo Providers: Are They Ready to Supply the Space Station in the Post-Shuttle Era?” In the first hearing on May 5, members of the Subcommittee voiced their concern that the request sought…