Six senators write Bolden about Constellation contracts

This just in from reporter Bart Jansen in Washington

Six senators from rocket-building and -launching states urged NASA Administrator Charles Bolden to stop trying to cut off nearly $1 billion in funding for the Constellation program.

The letter Friday from Sen. George LeMieux, R-Fla., and others is the latest salvo in the congressional battle to protect the return-to-the-moon program that President Barack Obama proposed to abandon.

The dispute is that as Congress debates Obama's budget, NASA began sending letters to contractors telling them to hold $994 million in anticipation of potentially terminating the program.

But as part of a spending bill for the current year, Congress prohibited NASA from cancelling Constellation until lawmakers vote on Obama's budget.

In his June 9 letter explaining to move to lawmakers, Bolden said the action was intended to "pace" Constellation funding rather than "terminate" it.

That move angered lawmakers particularly in states such as Utah and Lousiana that build Constellation's Ares rocket.

"The president's plan wastes billions of dollars and years of valuable time," said Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican who organized the letter.

Besides LeMieux and Hatch, the letter was signed by Sens. Mary Landrieu, D-La.; Bob Bennett, R-Utah; David Vitter, R-La.; and John Cornyn, R-Texas.

Their concern is that if contractors set aside nearly $1 billion, it could lead to thousands of job losses. They noted that other NASA contractors weren't forced to set aside a share of their funding in case other projects were cancelled.

"We are extremely concerned about inconsistent treatment and the counter-productive effect of withholding funding from the performance of critical work on NASA contracts," the letter said.