Tue, Dec 20, 2005
Bill Must Still Pass Senate Muster
A $29 billion relief bill passed by the US House of
Representatives Monday, to fund rebuilding efforts in the
hurricane-ravaged states along the US Gulf Coast, also contains
$350 million to repair damage incurred to NASA facilities in the
wrath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
According to Reuters, the hurricane funds -- $10 billion more
than President Bush had requested -- were attached to an unrelated
defense spending bill that has not yet been approved by the
Senate.
In fact, a tougher-than-average fight for passage is expected in
that chamber, because of opposition to another provision attached
that would open a portion of Alaska's Arctic Natural Wildlife
Reserve (ANWR) to oil drilling -- something that has proven to be a
bill-killer in the past.
As was reported earlier this month in
Aero-News, NASA had asked for as much as $760 million
in funding to repair damage to the agency's Michoud Assembly
Facility outside New Orleans -- where the shuttle's external fuel
tank is built -- and the similarly stricken Stennis Space Center in
Mississippi. The Office of Management and Budget had countered with
$325 million.
NASA's Johnson Space
Center in Houston, TX also suffered damage in Hurricane Rita,
although most of it was minor.
The lower sum might mean NASA will have to dip into its 2006
operating budget to make the needed repairs -- and with the costs
of maintaining the shuttle program in addition to beginning
development on NASA's next-generation family of space vehicles,
it's not as though there was money to spare.
As of now, however, the agency can't even count on the $350
million.
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