[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 116 (Tuesday, July 18, 1995)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1452-E1453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


 INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 2043, THE NASA AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 
                                  1996

                                 ______


                    HON. F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR.

                              of wisconsin

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, July 18, 1995
  Mr. SENSENBRENNER. Mr. Speaker, on July 17, 1995, Representative 
Walker and I introduced the National Aeronautics and Space 
Administration Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1996 in order to 
continue the process of prioritizing NASA's missions and programs for 
the remainder of this century. The multiyear space station 
authorization bill, which the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics and 
the full Science Committee endorsed by wide margins with strong 
bipartisan support, placed the space station at the top of NASA's list 
of priorities and provided the programmatic stability NASA needs to 
reduce costs. The bill builds on this strategy to focus NASA on the 
goal of becoming the leading R&D agency it once was. By moving NASA 
away from operating large, expensive programs such as the space shuttle 
and Mission to Planet Earth, this authorization act will enable NASA to 
focus on those activities which the agency does best, namely space 
science and technological research. At the same time, the bill 
preserves U.S. national interests in the space shuttle and Mission to 
Planet Earth by laying the foundation to privatize the space shuttle 
and bring the emerging commercial remote sensing industry into Mission 
to Planet Earth.
  By taking these steps, we bring new revenue streams and capital 
assets from the private sector into Government space missions. More 
importantly, we introduce market efficiencies into the large operating 
systems that NASA created but was never intended to run. In this 
manner, Congress enables NASA to leverage its resources against those 
space activities that the private sector cannot perform.
  As needed as these measures are, this bill is also important for what 
it does not do. The Fiscal Year 1996 NASA Authorization Act does not 
force the precipitous closing of any NASA field centers. While we have 
encouraged NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin to more aggressively to 
streamline and consolidate the NASA bureaucracy, Congress must ensure 
that this process proceeds logically and with long-term programmatic 
goals in mind. NASA's ongoing zero-based review is the first attempt to 
restructure the agency without affecting its programs. While this is a 
commendable effort, congressional action to prioritize NASA programs 
will also have an impact on the agency's structure. The authorization 
bill Chairman Walker and I introduced begins this process by focusing 
first on NASA's priority programs and then calling for an assessment of 
Government assets that match those priorities. This assessment will 

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enable the NASA Administrator to identify those elements of NASA that 
are crucial to its future and then empower the President to work with 
Congress on those bureaucratic adjustments deemed necessary to bring 
the agency into line with national priorities. Our bill complements the 
intention of the VA/HUD/Independent Agencies Appropriations 
Subcommittee to have the NASA Administrator report his intentions for 
bureaucratic streamlining to Congress prior to any action, but does not 
empower the Administrator to close any NASA field centers without first 
studying the implications of and seeking congressional approval for 
such an action.
  In the end, this bill will help us build a new NASA that once again 
can lead the United States into a sound economic and technological 
future.


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