|
12/15/05
HOUSE, SENATE REACH AGREEMENT ON NASA BILL
Udall wins key legislation in final NASA spending bill
(Washington, DC) – A House-Senate conference committee reached agreement on a bill to authorize programs at NASA for the next two years. Three key legislative proposals sponsored by Congressman Mark Udall (D-Eldorado Springs), Ranking Member of the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee and who served on the conference committee, were included in the bill, which the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to approve later this evening.
The bill authorizes NASA programs and sets clear, directed priorities for the space agency for the next two years. Udall’s proposals for a human repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, a revitalized aeronautics research and development program and a grant program to give local government better access to remote sensing data were included in the bill.
“This bill provides a balanced policy directive to NASA that will allow the agency to continue to work toward the Moon/Mars initiative, but also continue its vital research in the agency's other core areas such as human space flight, science and aeronautics,” said Udall. “This bill is good for Colorado, which has the fourth largest space industry in the country.”
The legislation includes a servicing mission to Hubble and authorizes $150 million to be used specifically for Hubble. In addition, the bill includes three groundbreaking initiatives in subsonic, supersonic and rotorcraft that are part of legislation Udall introduced earlier this year to revitalize aeronautics and aviation research and development at NASA.
Said Udall: “NASA’s aeronautics program has historically provided vital R&D that has allowed the U.S. to be global leader, but other nations are quickly gaining the edge. Progress in aeronautics is crucial to the health of the nation's air transportation industry, which in turn is crucial to the continued strength of our domestic economy and to our competitiveness.”
Finally, the legislation gives local communities greater access to geospatial data – information from analysis of data from orbiting satellites and airborne platforms—from federal agencies and commercial sources so that these communities can deal with growth, homeland security, drought and forest fire management. Udall introduced H.R. 426, the Remote Sensing Applications Act earlier this year, and introduced and won House approval of similar bills in the past.
|