Posted: Thu, Apr 19, 2012, 7:19 AM ET (1119 GMT)
Appropriations committees in the US House of Representative and Senate have drafted spending bills that would fund NASA at close to the administration's request for 2013. A Senate appropriations subcommittee approved a spending bill Tuesday that would give NASA $19.4 billion in fiscal year 2013, but over $1.6 billion of that represents funding for weather satellite programs transferred from NOAA. Without the NOAA funding, the NASA budget is a little over $17.7 billion, and includes an additional $100 million for Mars science programs cut in the administration's proposal. On Wednesday, a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee released its spending bill that it will debate in a hearing Thursday morning. That bill would give NASA a little under $17.6 billion for 2013, and does not include the NOAA program transfer in the Senate bill. The House bill also sets aside $150 million to begin work on a Mars sample return effort, but only if the National Research Council finds such a mission is feasible. Both bills provide approximately full funding for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft, and provide between $500 and 525 million for the agency's commercial crew program. Despite this early action, a final 2013 spending bill may not pass Congress until after the November elections.
