[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4544 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4544

  To provide for a Near-Earth Object Survey program to detect, track, 
  catalogue, and characterize certain near-earth asteroids and comets.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              June 9, 2004

 Mr. Rohrabacher introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
                        the Committee on Science

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
  To provide for a Near-Earth Object Survey program to detect, track, 
  catalogue, and characterize certain near-earth asteroids and comets.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``George E. Brown, Jr. Near-Earth 
Object Survey Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Near-Earth objects pose a serious and credible threat 
        to humankind, as scientists are certain that a major asteroid 
        or comet was responsible for the mass extinction of the 
        majority of the Earth's species, including the dinosaurs, 
        nearly 65,000,000 years ago.
            (2) Similar objects have struck the Earth or passed through 
        the Earth's atmosphere several times in the Earth's history and 
        pose a similar threat in the future.
            (3) Several such near-Earth objects have only been 
        discovered within days of the objects' closest approach to 
        Earth, and recent discoveries of such large objects indicate 
        that many large near-Earth objects remain undiscovered.
            (4) The efforts taken to date by the National Aeronautics 
        and Space Administration for detecting and characterizing the 
        hazards of Earth orbit-crossing asteroids and comets are not 
        sufficient to the threat posed by such objects to cause 
        widespread destruction and loss of life.

SEC. 3. DEFINITION.

    For purposes of this Act, the term ``Administrator'' means the 
Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

SEC. 4. NEAR-EARTH OBJECT SURVEY.

    (a) Survey Program.--The Administrator shall plan, develop, and 
implement a Near-Earth Object Survey program to detect, track, 
catalogue, and characterize the physical characteristics of near-Earth 
asteroids and comets equal to or greater than 100 meters in diameter in 
order to assess the threat of such near-Earth objects in striking the 
Earth.
    (b) Amendments.--Section 102 of the National Aeronautics and Space 
Act of 1958 (42 U.S.C. 2451) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating subsection (g) as subsection (h);
            (2) by inserting after subsection (f) the following new 
        subsection:
    ``(g) The Congress declares that the general welfare and security 
of the United States require that the unique competence of the National 
Aeronautics and Space Administration in science and engineering systems 
be directed to detecting, tracking, cataloguing, and characterizing 
near-Earth asteroids and comets in order to provide warning and 
mitigation of the potential hazard of such near-Earth objects impacting 
the Earth.''; and
            (3) in subsection (h), as so redesignated by paragraph (1) 
        of this subsection, by striking ``and (f)'' and inserting 
        ``(f), and (g)''.
    (c) Annual Report.--The Administrator shall transmit to the 
Congress, not later than February 28 of each of the next 5 years 
beginning after the date of enactment of this Act, a report that 
provides the following:
            (1) A summary of all activities taken pursuant to 
        subsection (a) for the previous fiscal year.
            (2) A summary of expenditures for all activities pursuant 
        to subsection (a) for the previous fiscal year.
            (3) A detailed plan and budget request for all activities 
        pursuant to subsection (a) for the next five fiscal years from 
        the year that the annual report is submitted.
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration for 
the Near-Earth Object Survey program described in subsection (a) 
$20,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 2005 and 2006. Amounts 
appropriated under this subsection shall remain available for 2 fiscal 
years.
                                 <all>