spacetoday.net: House committee defers decision on NASA exploration plan

Posted: Wed, Jun 30, 2010, 7:03 AM ET (1103 GMT)
US Capitol

A US House of Representatives subcommittee approved a $19-billion budget for NASA on Wednesday, but declined to take a stand on the agency's proposed new human space exploration plan. The Commerce, Justice, and Science subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee approved the budget for NASA as part of a larger spending bill, funding the agency at the same overall amount that the White House requested in February. The subcommittee, though, said it would not take a position on some of the more controversial elements of the White House proposal, which calls for ending the Constellation program and replacing it with a series of alternative efforts, ranging from technology development for future human space exploration to commercial crew transportation to the ISS. Instead, the subcommittee said it would wait for the separate passage of an authorization bill that lays out a specific policy for human spaceflight.