The House Weighs In

The committee of the U. S. House responsible for NASA's budget seems about to pass a budget that is contray to some of President Obama's space policy proposal. The committee, like the Congress, is led by Democrats.

The committee, for example, stays with the Constellation program, at least to the extent of developing a government-owned spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from orbit, while the President would cancel Constellation and rely on new private spacecraft to do the ferrying. The committee would also go ahead with the development of a heavy lift capability based on work already done by NASA under Constellation whereas the President wants NASA to study heavy lift for five years.

Political context is important to note. Whatever bill gets out of the committee will then have to get out of the House as a whole. That bill will then have to be reconciled with whatever the Senate does before anything goes to the President. In a sense, the committee vote is a free vote for those members who want to establish a position on the issue because they know the bill that finally becomes law will bear only a passing resemblance to the one they vote out of committee. Nor is this evidence that the President is in trouble with his own party. Space policy has never been key in national politics, and it certainly won't say Democrats are leaving President Obama if Congress alters his plans for NASA. Smart chief executives, indeed, propose plans they know the legislature will alter in order to give themselves maneuvering room to get essentially what they want.