House panel clears NASA budget

NASA's budget request for the next fiscal year took an initial step forward Wednesday when a House appropriations subcommittee approved a spending level of $16.79 billion for the agency.

That amount matches the request submitted by the Bush administration in February and, if it becomes law, would represent a $462 million dollar increase from the 2006 spending level, according to a press release from the House Appropriations Committee. While the spending total matches the Bush administration's request, the priorities are shifted slightly.

Lawmakers took approximately $175 million out of NASA's exploration initiative, which is developing missions to send astronauts back to the moon, and put the money into aeronautics ($100 million) and space science ($75 million).

Another unusual feature about the spending bill is that it contains no "earmarks," special initiatives inserted by lawmakers to direct funding to pet projects back in their congressional districts.

For several years, NASA officials complained that the growing number of earmarks mandated in the annual spending bill was hindering the agency's pursuit of high priority projects that offer broader benefits to the entire nation. Whether the bill remains earmark free will likely be determined when House and Senate negotiators meet later this year to hammer out differences in their respective bills.

The NASA spending plan must now go to the full House Appropriations Committee for a vote, possibly as soon as next week, and then to the House floor. The Senate follows a parallel track, but often lags behind the House schedule. A final bill setting NASA's spending limits for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, isn't expected to emerge until after Labor Day.

Editor's Note: For more on the earmark concerns arising at NASA, check out our special report from Sunday: Pork threatens NASA mission.