NASA, other federal agencies facing cuts under House proposal
NASA is facing a “$379 million budget cut” under the 2011 federal spending reductions proposed on Wednesday by the House Appropriations Committee.
However, Congress and the Obama Administration never passed a budget for the current federal fiscal year that began on Oct. 1. The president will present his proposed 2012 spending plan to Congress later this month.
The House spending measure, if passed by the full House, the Senate and signed into law by the president, would take effect on March 4. Much of the federal government, including NASA has been operating since the Oct. 1 start of the 2011 fiscal year under a series of budget continuing resolutions.
And those Continuing Resolutions advanced federal operations based on the lower 2010 federal budget.
In NASA’s case, the cut proposed by House Appropriations Committee chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky, would be applied to the president’s proposed $19 billion budget for the agency, yielding $18,621 billion, prorated for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends on Sept. 30.
However, at the 2010 level permitted under previous Continuing Resolutions, NASA is currently spending $18.724 on an annualized basis.
So, the cut facing the space agency if the House appropriations measure prevails is actually $103 million.
Overall, Rogers is seeking a $74 billion reduction in overall federal spending for the remainder of this fiscal year, including $58 billion in reductions from non-security departments and agencies like NASA.
“Make no mistake, these cuts are not low-hanging fruit,” Rogers said in a statement on Wednesday. “These cuts are real and will impact every District across the country – including my own. As I have often said, every dollar we cut has a constituency, an industry, an association, and individual citizens who will disagree with us. But with this CR, we will respond to the millions of Americans who have called on this Congress to rein in spending to help our economy grow and our businesses create jobs.”
Here is a link to the reductions proposed by House appropriators so far.