Republican lawmakers chastised the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Friday, saying the agency’s obsession with global warming is undercutting space exploration programs.
“There are 13 other agencies involved in climate change research, but only one that is responsible for space exploration,” Texas Rep. Lamar Smith told NASA administrator Charles Bolden in a hearing.
“The administration continues to starve NASA’s exploration programs to fund a partisan environmental agenda,” Smith said. “NASA simply deserves better.”
Republicans are concerned that NASA is spending too much money on Earth sciences while cutting funding for space exploration. President Barack Obama’s 2016 budget requests asks for $18.53 billion, a $519 million increase from 2015, but lawmakers worry the president’s budget “underfunds” certain space exploration programs.
For example, Republicans say Obama’s 2016 budget would cut $400 million from the Space Launch System and Orion programs, which are key programs for a manned space flight to Mars. In total, Republicans argue, Obama has increased funding for NASA’s Earth Science Division –which includes climate science — by 63 percent in the last eight years while cutting funding for human space exploration.
“NASA is at a crossroads,” said Mississippi Rep. Steve Palazzo. “Unfortunately, the last six years featured drastic change with the cancellation of Constellation and uncertain direction with the president’s ever-changing asteroid initiative.”
But Bolden defended the Obama administration’s budget saying it “will allow NASA to continue to lead the world in space through a balanced program of exploration, science, technology, and aeronautics research.”