$3B NASA Earmark in the CR Provides More Bad News for Taxpayers

Last week’s shutdown showdown provided some high drama for the country and the aftermath is providing high drama for budget geeks.  What was once thought of as a $38 billion cut is now estimated to be actually $352 million this year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Now it looks like at least two NASA earmarks have made their way into the continuing resolution.  On pages 214-215 of H.R. 1473 (the continuing resolution) there is language that states, “Of the amounts appropriated by this division for ‘National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Exploration’, not less than $1,200,000,000 shall be for the multipurpose crew vehicle to continue existing vehicle development activities to meet the requirements described in paragraph (a)(1) of section 303 of Public Law 111-267, and not less than $1,800,000,000 shall be for the heavy lift launch vehicle system which shall have a lift capability not less than 130 tons and which shall have an upper stage and other core elements developed simultaneously.”

This is important because Congress made a pledge of no earmarks and these particular earmarks would be used to salvage the Constellation Program that the President has tried to cancel.

The President signed into law legislation cancelling major components (the Ares I Rocket) of the Constellation program in 2010.  But, because of a provision in NASA’s fiscal year (FY) 2010 Appropriations Act, NASA will spend an estimated $500 million on the Ares I rocket.  On January 2, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that “in the last days of last Congress they funded five hundred million dollars for a rocket program at NASA that’s already been shut down. That can’t be too hard to undo.”  In January, NASA also delivered a report to Congress that concluded that it still can’t build a rocket that “fits the projected budget profiles nor schedule goals outlined in the Authorization Act.”   

The biggest concern is what NASA officials are saying about the program.  According to a March 31 Space News article, “NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the agency is on track to deliver a final report to lawmakers ‘in the spring or summer’ of this year. But in a keynote address at the conference here March 30, he said NASA is unlikely to need a vehicle capable of lifting 130 metric tons before the late-2020s.”

There is no need to spend $3 billion on a program that we don’t need, especially at a time when the country is desperate for spending cuts.