Opponent Calls Ideas "Outrageous"

An incumbent US Congressman from Houston, TX is campaigning for re-election by suggesting a total overhaul of NASA, getting rid of bureaucracy and putting the scientists and engineers back in charge of the overall vision for the space program.

The Houston Chronicle reports that on Tuesday last week, Republican John Culberson told an online town hall meeting NASA has, "...failed us miserably," and, "...wastes a vast amount of money." He then announced on Thursday he was considering introducing legislation which would recast NASA in a form similar to that of the National Science Foundation, an independent federal agency led by a director and a 24-member board appointed by the president.

"NASA needs complete freedom to hire and fire based on performance; it needs to be driven by the scientists and the engineers, and it needs to be free of politics as much as possible," Culberson said.

Culberson is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, says that even after spending more than $156 billion in the past decade, NASA has given up "a 40-year advantage" in space exploration, relying on liquid-fueled rockets with technology dating back to "Robert Goddard-era rockets" of the 1920s.

As is often the case in political campaigns, Democrats are directing attention away from any merits of the incumbent's argument... and dumbing-down the debate to paint Culbertson as an enemy of NASA, and the 20,000 jobs it represents in the Houston area. Culberston's election opponent, Michael Skelly, says, "It's outrageous to suggest that the agency that put a man on the moon has somehow failed us. I will always be a strong supporter of NASA."

Like many space program observers, George Washington University's Space Policy Institute Director John Logsdon gives NASA credit for making the best of a difficult political situation.

"It's easy to beat up on them because they're at the end of the shuttle program, and they've been given inadequate funding by the administration and Congress to move forward with the new program for manned spaceflight," he said.

Culberson responded to the furor by restating to the Chronicle that his comments were aimed at political bloat and financial waste, not NASA employees. "It was never my intention to demean the fine people of NASA, who are working their hearts out to do their best with the constraints of a crippling bureaucracy that wastes money inexcusably."

Culbertson added his thoughts have not yet been put in the form of a formal House bill.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.culberson.house.gov