Posted
12/04/2008 06:13:00 PM
by Douglas
NASA prepares for the looming budget crisis: The
Obama Administration.The Texas congressional delegation is launching a campaign to combat potentially deep budget cuts for NASA as President-elect Barack Obama focuses on rescuing the nation's economy.
The drive comes amid expectations that billions of dollars will be shifted from various federal agencies into new programs to stimulate the economy and stabilize the financial system.
With tough trade-offs ahead, NASA's supporters are bracing for a hard look by the new administration and Democratic-controlled Congress at the space agency's $20.2 billion budget for the current year, which includes $5.8 billion for the shuttle and $3 billion to develop the Orion moonship.
$20 Billion. The bailout is over $7
Trillion. What a drop in the bucket. Do they know where that money goes? NASA doesn't strap it on rockets and launch it to the moon. It goes to civil servants, contractors, vendors, grocery stores and strip clubs in Florida, Texas, California, and every other state in the country, and occasionally, they launch some pretty cool stuff. Could CitiBank, AIG, GM, Ford, Chrysler do anything nearly as cool.