Newt Gingrich, Bob Walker Write Op-Ed In Washington Times

Two former leaders of the Republican Party are urging current members of Congress to support President Obama's NASA budget, which was unveiled earlier this month.

In a Sunday Op-Ed piece in "The Washington Times", the two Congressional veterans say “The Obama administration’s budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration deserves strong approval from Republicans. The 2011 spending plan for the space agency does what is obvious to anyone who cares about man’s future in space and what presidential commissions have been recommending for nearly a decade.”

Gingrich (R-GA) (right) was Speaker of the House following the 1994 Republican takeover of that body. Walker (R-PA) chaired the House Science Committee.

Gingrich and Walker compare where the United States is now with space flight with the railroads which opened up the American West over a century ago. They say commercial spaceflight “has the potential of creating thousands of new jobs, largely the kind of high-tech work to which our nation should aspire,” according to a Commercial Spaceflight Federation blog.

Since leaving Congress, Gingrich has been named to the  board of governors of the National Space Society, and Walker, who was chairman of the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry. " “Bipartisan cooperation has been difficult to achieve in Congress, but here is a chance. By looking forward, NASA has given us a way to move forward. It deserves broad support for daring to challenge the status quo,” they wrote.

FMI: www.commercialspaceflight.org, www.newt.org