Budget deal to keep NASA funded at 2006 levels
Posted: Wed, Dec 13, 2006, 6:52 AM ET (1152 GMT)
A plan by the incoming Democratic leadership of Congress to resolve a number of outstanding appropriations bills for 2007, including one that funds NASA, would keep the space agency's budget at the same level as 2006. On Monday the incoming chairman of the appropriations committees in the House and Senate, Rep. David Obey and Sen. Robert Byrd, said that planned to replace the incomplete appropriations bills remaining in Congress for the 2007 fiscal year with a continuing resolution that would run through the end of the fiscal year. NASA and many other federal agencies have been operating since October 1 under a series of short-term continuing resolutions that keep them funded at 2006 levels; the year-long resolution would also keep spending at 2006 levels with only minor adjustments. That decision would be a setback to NASA and its supporters, who had sought a modest budget increase for NASA in 2007. The decision also ends a separate bipartisan plan by two senators to provide a billion-dollar boost to the NASA budget. The continuing resolution, however, would also be free of earmarks that traditionally have sapped money from the budget for specific pet projects.
A plan by the incoming Democratic leadership of Congress to resolve a number of outstanding appropriations bills for 2007, including one that funds NASA, would keep the space agency's budget at the same level as 2006. On Monday the incoming chairman of the appropriations committees in the House and Senate, Rep. David Obey and Sen. Robert Byrd, said that planned to replace the incomplete appropriations bills remaining in Congress for the 2007 fiscal year with a continuing resolution that would run through the end of the fiscal year. NASA and many other federal agencies have been operating since October 1 under a series of short-term continuing resolutions that keep them funded at 2006 levels; the year-long resolution would also keep spending at 2006 levels with only minor adjustments. That decision would be a setback to NASA and its supporters, who had sought a modest budget increase for NASA in 2007. The decision also ends a separate bipartisan plan by two senators to provide a billion-dollar boost to the NASA budget. The continuing resolution, however, would also be free of earmarks that traditionally have sapped money from the budget for specific pet projects.
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