Says Constellation Is Still The Law Of The Land
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
(R-TX) (pictured, right), Ranking Member of the Senate Commerce,
Science, and Transportation Committee, said Thursday that NASA
leadership was skirting the law to shut down the Constellation
program after publicly announcing a decision to reprioritize work
on the program. NASA’s stated justification for these actions
is the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA), which prohibits spending funds
beyond levels that are appropriated in a given year, or obligating
the government to pay money before funds have been appropriated.
There are a number of unanswered questions on whether the ADA would
apply in this situation, and if it did, the recently passed Defense
Supplemental legislation clarifies that regardless of any provision
of law, work must continue on the Constellation program.
“While Congress considers the President’s Budget
request, the Constellation program remains the law of the land and
we have repeatedly affirmed that Constellation work should continue
unless Congress approves a different program,” said Senator
Hutchison. “For months, NASA’s leadership has
claimed they are not working to subvert Constellation despite
information to the contrary. This includes letters sent from
the agency to contractors about their termination liability,
internal direction given to agency personnel to give ‘lowest
priority’ to spending that does not fit into the
President’s proposal, and the recent reassignment of the
Constellation program manager, who was reported to be working on
plans to continue implementation of the program of
record.”
“All of these are deeply troubling developments, but
perhaps the most disturbing evidence that the Administration is
motivated to subvert the Constellation program and effectively burn
the bridge to the program is found in the timing of this public
announcement and the argument used to justify it,” Senator
Hutchison said. “Two weeks ago, the Senate passed a
Defense Supplemental spending measure with language requiring NASA
to continue work on the Constellation program unless Congress
directs otherwise. This language clearly affirms
Congressional direction that work should continue. This
measure is expected to reach the President’s desk before the
end of this month. The timing of NASA’s decision to
push forward with these actions now, before this becomes law,
rather than working with Congress to identify ways to mitigate
uncertainty and allow workers to remain on the job is highly
questionable.”
Senator Hutchison received a letter this week from NASA
Administrator Bolden outlining the decision and NASA’s
justification. She noted that it further underscores the
extent to which NASA has taken aggressive steps to move in a
different direction without providing ample explanation or
justification to Congress. The letter from Administrator
Bolden contains language discussing the new
“principles” to guide spending that are virtually
identical to direction reportedly given by NASA headquarters in an
email to the now reassigned Constellation program manager more than
three weeks ago. The email with these operational
instructions has been provided to the NASA Inspector General as
part of the investigation Hutchison requested with Chairman
Rockefeller into the reassignment of the Constellation program
manager.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
“At best, this demonstrates that, at least three weeks
before briefing members of Congress about issues related to funding
challenges, NASA’s leadership had already taken steps to
implement a course that today leads to the loss of hundreds,
perhaps thousands, of jobs,” said Senator Hutchison.
“At worst, it shows an agency that is willfully subverting
the repeatedly expressed will of Congress. In either case,
the result is the same. The leadership of the world’s
preeminent space agency has strained its credibility to the
breaking point and something has to change.”
NTSB Final Report: Patriot Aircraft LLC CX1900A
See All