Friday, October 16, 2009

Florida delegation: Give unspent stimulus funds to NASA

Florida's congressional delegation today appealed to the White House to shift $3 billion in unspent economic stimulus funds to NASA.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, the delegation noted that a presidential panel reviewing the nation's human spaceflight program said NASA needs another $3 billion to "permit human exploration to continue in any meaningful way."

The panel is expected to present its final report to the White House by the end of this month.

"Our nation's technological supremacy, which was cemented by the Apollo program, should not be abdicated due to insufficient funding," their letter said. "We believe the commission's recommendation for an additional $3 billion annually above the FY2010 budget request should be implemented without delay to enable a viable space exploration program."

"We urge you to direct at least $3 billion in unobligated funds approved in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) to our space exploration program," the letter said.

The letter was signed by Congresswoman Susanne Kosmos, D-New Smyrna Beach, Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge and Democratic Senator Bill Nelson, among others.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thats nice. BUT what about older people unable to pay there bills and are not homeless but can be if they do not and can not pay there RE tax city takes HOUSE. Great for NASA still no help for old people.
And for the older people over 62 years old, like me PLEASE TELL ME where I can get a job. Got turned down for age/limited on what I can do disability)

Anonymous said...

Give, give, give...
How about giving it back to the tax payers and local small bussiness owners who where robbed by the past and current administrations....

Bruce said...

In the interest of saving our Space exploration program, NASA should consider reducing their -need- for funding. Example, I noticed in a NASA video a scientist wearing a shirt embroidered with a very large logo, I'm assuming specially designed for the department and project she worked in. This type of shirt is very expensive, and I propose non critical to the mission. Badges which could be hooked to whatever shirt the employee was wearing, would save a bundle if implemented NASA wide. Changes like this would be painfull and heart-breaking to some, but might be necessary to save the program. I would love to know what NASA's annual embroidery bill adds up to. This is just one thing I noticed, because I'm envolved in the embroidery industry. There are most probably other ways NASA could save money without sacrificing safety. I get the impression NASA's engineers and staff are very good at coming up with save the Earth ideas, why not use some of that talent to come up with more "Save the Program Ideas"? You could call it the SPI project. My appologies to anyone involved with supplying embroidery to NASA.

Anonymous said...

I'm all for increasing NASA's budget, but they can't just throw $3 billion at them without saying what to spend it on. Otherwise, it just becomes a gift of public funds.

That's where the Augustine Panel's final report comes in. It helps President Obama decide where to direct the $3 billion.

So folks need to be patient a bit longer, let the Augustine Panel finish its work, and then we'll see where the $3 billion goes.

Anonymous said...

NASA does not pass out free shirts. We (I'm a contractor) purchase all of our own embroidered shirts because we take pride in the projects, divisions and programs we work on. They are not cheap and we get no "special" NASA price. Two short sleeved shirts run about $44.00 plus shipping.