NASA Funding

On July 26, the Democratically-controlled U.S. House passed a NASA funding bill allocating $17.6 billion for the agency next year. That is slightly more than the Bush Administration requested. The budget level maintains NASA's share of federal spending at less than one percent of the total federal budget. Some space advocates have been concerned that the Moon-Mats program initiated by President Bush may not survive his administration. If a Democratic Congress fully funds the program, perhaps the Democrats will have made the exploration vision their own.