[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 63 (Friday, May 13, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E959-E960]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      INTRODUCTION OF THE ``AERONAUTICS RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT 
                      REVITALIZATION ACT OF 2005''

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. MARK UDALL

                              of colorado

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 12, 2005

  Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I am today introducing the 
``Aeronautics Research

[[Page E960]]

and Development Act of 2005''. I am pleased to be joined in this 
initiative by I the following cosponsors of this legislation: 
Representative John Larson, who submitted legislation on this topic in 
the 108th Congress that has provided a solid foundation for my bill; 
Representative Jo Ann Davis, Representative Gordon, Representative 
Kucinich, and Representative Bobby Scott. We would welcome additional 
Members joining us as sponsors once they have had a chance to review 
the legislation.
  Mr. Speaker, progress in aeronautics is crucial to the health of the 
Nation's air transportation industry, which in turn is crucial both to 
the continued strength of our domestic economy and to our international 
competitiveness. In addition, aeronautical goods and services have long 
provided a major positive input to our balance of trade.
  Yet progress in aeronautics is important for reasons beyond the 
health of our trade balance. Aeronautics R&D can enable advances in the 
capability of our nation's air transportation system to handle the 
enormous increases in air travel projected over the next twenty years. 
Aeronautics R&D can enable more environmentally compatible commercial 
aircraft, with significantly lower noise, emissions, and energy 
consumption compared to aircraft in commercial service today. Such new 
aircraft would not only improve the quality of life but would also open 
new markets. Aeronautics R&D can also enable new markets and services 
through the development of technologies that will allow supersonic 
commercial aircraft to fly over populated areas with no adverse 
environmental impacts, as well as the development of technologies that 
will greatly increase the capabilities of rotorcraft and other runway-
independent air vehicles to serve civil needs. Finally, aeronautics R&D 
can lead to new concepts for protecting our Nation.
  However, all of the new capabilities that I have described will only 
be possible if this Nation is committed to making the investments in 
aeronautics R&D that are necessary to achieve those goals. The 
unfortunate reality is that America currently is not investing enough 
in NASA's aeronautics program. Moreover, if nothing is done to correct 
the situation, NASA's aeronautics program is scheduled to suffer 
additional cuts over the next five years, cuts that will jeopardize the 
very foundations of our national aeronautics R&D capabilities.
  You don't have to take my word for it--there have been a series of 
reports by independent committees over the last few years that have 
expressed deep concern over the state of the U.S. aeronautics R&D 
enterprise. In addition, the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee, on 
which I am privileged to serve as Ranking Member, held a hearing on 
March 16th of this year at which all of the distinguished non-
governmental witnesses expressed the view that aeronautics is at risk 
in the U.S. That hearing also highlighted the seriousness with which 
Europe is approaching future investments in aeronautical R&D. The 
European governments have made it clear that Europe seeks to become the 
world leader in aeronautics technology by 2020.
  Yet it doesn't have to be that way. It's not inevitable that our 
national commitment to cutting-edge aeronautics R&D has to decline. We 
can have an exciting, robust NASA aeronautics program that meets 
important national needs. We just need to do two things: provide a 
clear direction for NASA's aeronautics activities and provide the 
resources necessary for NASA to maintain a world-class aeronautics R&D 
enterprise.
  That is the intent of the bill that I am introducing today: the 
``Aeronautics Research and Development Revitalization Act of 2005''.
  This Act contains a number of important provisions. First, it states 
clearly and unambiguously that: ``It shall be the policy of the United 
States to reaffirm the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 and 
its identification of aeronautical research and development as a core 
mission of NASA. Further, it shall be the policy of the United States 
to promote aeronautical research and development that will expand the 
capacity, ensure the safety, and increase the efficiency of the 
Nation's air transportation system, promote the security of the Nation, 
protect the environment, and retain the leadership of the United States 
in global aviation.'' The bill starts with this policy statement 
because I believe that it is critically important that we have a 
national policy for aeronautics research and development--one that 
recognizes the importance of aeronautics R&D and gives some guidance 
for the conduct of that research.

  The bill next establishes three ``breakthrough'' R&D initiatives in 
subsonic, supersonic, and rotorcraft and other runway-independent air 
vehicle aeronautics. The intent is to set some challenging R&D goals 
that will push the state of the art across a range of aeronautical 
science and engineering disciplines as well as deliver technologies 
that will change existing air transportation paradigms and help open 
new markets in an environmentally responsible manner.
  The third Title of the bill focuses on ensuring the overall health of 
the nation's aeronautics research enterprise. To that end, it 
reestablishes a fundamental research and technology program within NASA 
that is not tied to specific development projects. NASA used to have 
such a program, and I believe that, properly managed, it can provide 
the foundation on which future progress in aeronautics will be based.
  I also wanted to ensure that NASA maintains its involvement in 
Airspace Systems research and Aviation Safety and Security research, 
because I believe those are crucial to the development of a safe and 
efficient national air transportation system. At the same time, I want 
to make sure that NASA's efforts are appropriately aligned with the 
plans and objectives of the Joint Planning and Development Office 
(JPDO)--the interagency office that has responsibility for developing 
the next generation air transportation system. It is essential that the 
JPDO succeed, and I believe that NASA's research can play an important 
role in ensuring its success.
  Next, I have included a provision that clearly defines a policy for 
the operation of NASA's aeronautical test facilities. As was noted at 
the recent Subcommittee hearing on aeronautics, NASA's full cost 
recovery policy has had a ruinous effect on the maintenance of its test 
facilities, and decisions to shut facilities down are being made for 
budgetary reasons instead of first addressing whether the facilities 
have strategic importance. This bill would undo that unwise policy.
  The bill also highlights a number of other research areas that should 
be supported. These include hypersonics, a research area in which some 
exciting accomplishments have been made over the last several years 
that offer promise of significant future advances. In addition, the 
bill establishes speculative research initiatives to develop and test 
concepts for a zero emissions aircraft and an uncrewed aircraft that 
could operate in the atmosphere of Mars. These are research initiatives 
that could help excite the next generation of aeronautics professionals 
if properly structured to allow significant involvement by the 
university research community.

  With respect to that next generation, the bill recognizes the need to 
get more American students to pursue studies in aeronautical 
engineering. To that end, the bill establishes a program of graduate 
scholarships to encourage students to pursue aeronautical engineering 
careers.
  Finally, we come to the question of funding the programs contained in 
this bill. While some would argue that we need to double the 
aeronautics budget immediately if we are to reverse the negative trends 
in the state of U.S. aeronautics R&D, I do not believe that such an 
increase is possible in the current fiscal environment. In addition, I 
do not believe it is necessary over the short term. Instead, I believe 
that the highest priority is to refocus and strengthen NASA's approach 
to aeronautics R&D by a combination of challenging R&D projects and 
wise stewardship of its workforce and facilities. A budget that returns 
NASA to its FY 2004 aeronautics funding level of $1.057 billion for FY 
2006 and provides modest annual increases over the next five years will 
do much to put NASA on a path that will allow it to put its aeronautics 
house in order and position it for a highly productive future.
  Mr. Speaker, aeronautics R&D is important to the nation. NASA's 
aeronautics program has long been the centerpiece of those research 
efforts. We need keep NASA's aeronautics activities healthy and 
productive. I believe that the Aeronautics Research and Development 
Revitalization Act of 2005 can help strengthen the Nation's aeronautics 
R&D enterprise, and I hope that it will receive early consideration by 
this body.

                          ____________________