[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 8 (Tuesday, January 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H748]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             FUND NASA NOW

  (Ms. HARMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. HARMAN. Mr. Speaker, what a difference a day makes.
  Yesterday, NASA's Galileo spacecraft beamed back incredible images of 
Jupiter, our solar system's most intriguing plant. Today, however, 
Members are ready to allow NASA to be caught in the crossfire of 
another Government shutdown.
  When I met last week with NASA contractors in my district, they told 
me that the failure to enact NASA's appropriation would cause 
devastation and hardship to the region's aerospace industry. Small 
contractors, who don't have the financial flexibility of their large 
counterparts, would be particularly hard-hit.
  Thermal Electronics, Luna Defense Systems, RGA Labs, and Phoenix 
Engineering will all be forced to lay off--not furlough, but lay off--a 
substantial percentage of their workers unless we act in a bipartisan 
manner to immediately enact a NASA appropriation which funds the space 
station and key science initiatives like the mission to plant Earth.
  If one adds in Hughes, TRW, Allied Signal, and Cal Tech's Jet 
Propulsion Lab, we are talking about the possibility of over 10,000 
layoffs.
  Mr. Speaker, we must find common ground and fund NASA now. Our future 
depends on it.

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