[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12713]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



               PRESIDENT SHOWS STRONG COMMITMENT TO NASA

  (Mr. BRADY of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BRADY of Texas. Mr. Speaker, as a former member of the House 
Committee on Science, I am a strong supporter of NASA and our 
international space station. So is President Bush, but you would not 
know so if you listened to some of the rumors going around Houston and 
our Johnson Space Center.
  But here are the facts. Only last year NASA told us on the Committee 
on Science that they would need $14.4 billion for the coming year. Even 
after they raised the request recently, the President's budget meets 
that request at $14.5 billion; meets NASA's request. The President also 
increases funding for the space station, for the launch initiative, and 
keeps a sustained level of six space shuttle flights.
  Understandably, at budget time you are going to have some partisan 
spin, but, seriously, how can you criticize the President when he gives 
NASA what it asked for, at a level nearly $1 billion higher than where 
it has languished for 4 of the last 5 years?
  The fact is, for space supporters in Congress, we have never started 
a budget year so strongly, and our congressional appropriators are 
trying to do more. Unfortunately, only in Washington are budget 
increases spun as budget cuts.

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