[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 74 (Thursday, May 23, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H5545-H5546]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   QUESTIONING PRESIDENT CLINTON'S COMMITMENT TO OUR NATION'S SPACE 
    PROGRAM, AND URGING MEMBERS TO SUPPORT BUDGET RESOLUTION ON NASA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Florida [Mr. Weldon] is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I have a great deal of difficulty 
with President Clinton's real commitment to our Nation's space program. 
We have all heard his official position, but how does that compare with 
the demonstrated position? On the one hand, his science adviser says 
the President steadfastly opposes any cuts in science and technology. 
That came from Jack Gibbons on March 29. Vice President Gore said the 
President's 1997 budget will provide generous funding for science and 
technology. But if we look at what the President does to NASA's budget, 
if we look at what the President actually does, rather than what he 
says or his staff says, we get a different picture.
  Mr. Speaker, the President made dangerous, deep cuts in NASA'S long-
term budget. We can see on this graph that I have here, the House 
budget does decline NASA's budget slightly over 7 years in the effort 
to balance the budget, but the President's cuts are very, very deep and 
I believe seriously undermine our ability to have an effective and 
growing investment in science and technology.

  Indeed, the President puts a lot of investment in a program that I 
think is of some questionable scientific value. One has to wonder about 
the foundations of his space policy. I believe the future of space 
exploration lies in programs such as our international space station 
and continuing our investment in the shuttle program, as well as 
developing new launch vehicles.
  I know what would happen to our space program if the United States 
were left with the kind of budget that the President is proposing here. 
It would just be a shell of a program. Our

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nation is a space-faring Nation. We are an exploring Nation.
  If we look at the history of the great nations of the world and what 
happened to many of them when they stopped exploring and they stopped 
reaching out, they began to shrink. They began to diminish. They began 
to become less of a significance in the world. And they went on, to 
quote President Ronald Reagan frequently, into the dustpan of history.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe that the $2 billion that the President wants 
to cut out of NASA's budget is setting the stage for that kind of 
development for our Nation. I believe what the House is doing is the 
responsible thing. We all know everybody has to play a role in 
balancing the budget, and everybody has to do their part.
  It is wrong, it is immoral, to keep saddling our children with 
excessive amounts of debt. The debt burden, as we all know, today is 
huge, $5 trillion; something like $18,000 for every man, woman, and 
child. NASA has stepped up to the plate and has been able to continue 
doing what it has been doing in the past with fewer people. The men and 
women of NASA have done a yeoman's job in being able to continue the 
shuttle program, continue to allow it to fly safely, continue the space 
station on schedule and on budget, as well as continue investment in 
science research. But what the President is proposing, Mr. Speaker, I 
think would be devastating to our space program, and is just wrong. I 
believe that the President's budget proposal is the wrong approach to 
our science program.
  Mr. Speaker, I would say that we could almost describe his space 
policy as being lost in space. Mr. Speaker, I would encourage all my 
colleagues to support our House budget resolution on NASA. It is the 
right proposal. It is a proposal that would allow us to continue our 
crucial investment in the space station, in the shuttle program, in the 
development of a new launch vehicle, and would not devastate the 
program, as the President is proposing.

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