Excerpt from what I received:
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NASA’s Authorization bill (H.R. 5781) will be debated on the floor of the US House of Representatives tomorrow. Despite the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle, H.R. 5781 authorizes over five times as many taxpayer dollars to fly NASA astronauts on the Russian Soyuz than it invests in developing an American commercial alternative, moreover at a time when jobs are sorely needed in the United States. Quite simply, this bill represents the sort of senseless pork politics that has driven our national debt to the point where our economy can barely service it.
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Granted, one might not like to spend money for the Russians to fly our astronauts to the ISS but if you don't have any other way at the moment to get them their I would think you would need to pay the taxi driver. If you would like to take a different taxi well it would be nice if they were to come along before you miss your appointment. If you want to help someone else build their taxi, I guess you can do that too. If you have both the money for the ride now and some change to help your local friend that would be nice too. Not enough money to do both, well maybe spend less on Black Ops, just a thought.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------
http://www.spacenews.com/
Thu, 29 July, 2010
Commercial Space Advocates Rally To Stall NASA Authorization Bill
By Amy Klamper
snip
Commercial space advocates are working to kill the bill. For example, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company eager to fly NASA astronauts to the international space station aboard its Falcon 9-launched Dragon capsule, is e-mailing supporters to urge their lawmakers to vote no on H.R. 5781.
“If you care about the future of American space exploration, your urgent help is needed,” SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk wrote in the e-mail. “The only hope for the average citizen to one day travel to space is in danger due to the actions of certain members of Congress.”
Lawmakers are running out of time to move measures to a vote before the U.S. government’s new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
Thu, 29 July, 2010
Commercial Space Advocates Rally To Stall NASA Authorization Bill
By Amy Klamper
snip
Commercial space advocates are working to kill the bill. For example, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company eager to fly NASA astronauts to the international space station aboard its Falcon 9-launched Dragon capsule, is e-mailing supporters to urge their lawmakers to vote no on H.R. 5781.
“If you care about the future of American space exploration, your urgent help is needed,” SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk wrote in the e-mail. “The only hope for the average citizen to one day travel to space is in danger due to the actions of certain members of Congress.”
Lawmakers are running out of time to move measures to a vote before the U.S. government’s new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
snip
------------------------------
Watching the House of Representatives on C-SPAN is making me tired. You see the BP Oil Spill is taking up a lot of time with discussionsabout new legislation to see that it doesn't happen again and to make them pay. A minute for you to talk, two minuets for you over there torebut, and why won't you tell me what the next bill is on the agenda. Ow, my head hurts. No talking about H.R. 5781 as it seems there were some late night hall discussions and maybe now is not the time tobring to the floor.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.spacenews.com/
Fri, 30 July, 2010
Vote on NASA Bill Appears Unlikely Before September
By Amy Klamper
WASHINGTON — A controversial House NASA authorization bill that appeared headed for a floor vote July 30 has stalled, and it appearsunlikely the measure will be taken up before lawmakers leave town for a six-week summer break that begins Aug. 2.
House leadership aides said just before midnight July 29 that the bill, a three-year authorization that recommends funding the U.S.space agency at roughly $19 billion a year through 2013, would not be taken up July 30, and that it is very unlikely the measure will cometo a vote before lawmakers head home to campaign in their districts. Although the bill, H.R. 5781, would not actually fund NASA, it would set guidelines for how much Congress can spend on the agency’s programs. In June House appropriators approved a $19 billion budget for NASA next year, but fenced off most of the agency’s $4.2 billion human space exploration budget pending enactment of an authorization bill.
The House Science and Technology Committee approved H.R. 5781 with strong bipartisan support July 22, sending forward a bill that authorizes only a small fraction of the $3.3 billion NASA sought to invest in a commercial crew transportation system over the next three years. The bill authorized $150 million through 2013 for commercial crew and another $300 million in the form of government-backed loans or loan guarantees. The measure also would continue much of the work being done under NASA’s Constellation program, a 5-year-old effort to build new rockets and spacecraft optimized for lunar missions that President Barack Obama targeted for termination in his 2011 spending proposal delivered to Congress in February.
With little time remaining in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) sought to bring the measure to the House floor under suspension of the rules — a move that prevents amendments to a bill and requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass. But Gordon encountered resistance from House members hoping to weigh in on the measure during floor debate. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and other House Democrats met with Gordon early July 29 to address concerns with key elements of the legislation.
“We had a good conversation about the difficult choices facing the agency and promised to continue to work together to reach consensus on the bill,” Schiff said of the meeting through a spokesperson July 29.
Schiff was one of 13 Democratic members of the California delegation who urged Gordon’s committee to restore funding for commercial crew and cargo initiatives and exploration technology programs requested in NASA’s 2011 spending plan.
snip
------------------------------
If you thought you were going to get some gold coins thrown your way and now looks like you are only going to get copper pieces, I guess you are saying "Not Fair", Why didn't you bring a bigger bag of coins, and forget all those other hands that are outstretched. Get back, get back, see me, see me.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.
Showdown over space policy
Alan Boyle writes: Rocketeers ranging from SpaceX's millionaire founder to the maverick engineers behind the DIRECT heavy-lift design effort are sounding the alarm over a space spending bill due for consideration by the House on Friday. Their bottom line: Support the Senate version of the bill instead.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
H.R. 5781 , the House's version of the $19 billion NASA authorization bill for fiscal 2011, lops off most of $6 billion being sought by the Obama administration for boosting the development of commercial spaceships capable of bringing astronauts to the International Space Station over the next five years. Instead, it would put more money into the internal NASA rocket development program - although not as much as previously budgeted under a plan that an independent panel said was "not viable."
For a detailed analysis of the various plans, check out this comparison from the Space Foundation, and this Popular Mechanics commentary by Rand Simberg.
Many folks on the entrepreneurial space frontier say the House spending plan is so deficient that the Senate version must prevail, even though it also short-changes commercial space development. They say the alternative could be an extended period of dependence on the Russians for crew transport.
snip
------------------------------
So the legislative process goes on, inside and outside and in the halls. It doesn't seem to be a done deal and if there isn't any money to fund then it will just be words on paper. Keith Cowling adds a few words at NASA WATCH.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.nasawatch.com/
Showdown Ahead For H.R. 5781?
By Keith Cowing on July 29, 2010 7:26 P
Commercial Space Advocates Rally To Stall NASA Authorization Bill, SpaceNews
http://www.spacenews.com/
"House sources said July 28 that a floor vote on the NASA authorization could come as early as July 29, but opponents of the bill -- primarily commercial space advocates -- were successful in stalling the measure, which now is unlikely to be considered before July 30, sources said. Gordon is seeking to bring the measure to the House floor under suspension of the rules, a procedural tactic that prevents amendments to a bill during limited floor debate and which requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass."
snip
------------------------------
To schedule or not to schedule, that is the question?
Then there is, to vote for or not to vote for, and who will think me bad if I do or don't.
Will I need the other representatives support on MY BILL when I present?
My, my, decisions, decisions.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.spacepolitics.com/
HR 5781 schedule, and supporting the home team
July 30, 2010 at 6:17 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
It’s not a guarantee that action on the bill is delayed, but HR 5781, the NASA authorization bill, does not appear on the House floor schedule for Friday as distributed by the office of the House Majority Leader. Several bills are up for consideration under suspension of the rules, some of which were postponed from yesterday, but the NASA bill is not among them. Schedules, as always, are subject to change.
http://majorityleader.gov/
Meanwhile, in a meeting with the editorial board of Florida Today, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk elaborated on his comments in the call-to-action email the company sent out yesterday morning. “It seems like just a basic rule of thumb — maybe you want to spend as much on the American team as you do on the Russians,” Musk told the paper, noting that the bill authorizes several times as much money for buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft as it does for commercial crew development. “It just seems like a crazy time to be doing that sort of thing.”
snip
------------------------------
Okay, I passed some folks links to H.R. 5781 at Thomas.loc and the search links had expired.
If that is the case with you, then just go to the thomas.loc home page and do your own search.
Knowing how may come in handy later when you have something else you would like to check on.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/
THOMAS
In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, legislative information from the
Library of Congress
[Note: In Search Bill Summary & Status - use 'Bill Number' search
option, enter H.R. 5781]
snip
------------------------------
I think politics is messy and not the most efficient way to run a government. Then again, it is very nice to be able to stand up and say what you want done. In some places one would just be told what to do, or else.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
==============================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
------------------------------
Watching the House of Representatives on C-SPAN is making me tired. You see the BP Oil Spill is taking up a lot of time with discussionsabout new legislation to see that it doesn't happen again and to make them pay. A minute for you to talk, two minuets for you over there torebut, and why won't you tell me what the next bill is on the agenda. Ow, my head hurts. No talking about H.R. 5781 as it seems there were some late night hall discussions and maybe now is not the time tobring to the floor.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.spacenews.com/
Fri, 30 July, 2010
Vote on NASA Bill Appears Unlikely Before September
By Amy Klamper
WASHINGTON — A controversial House NASA authorization bill that appeared headed for a floor vote July 30 has stalled, and it appearsunlikely the measure will be taken up before lawmakers leave town for a six-week summer break that begins Aug. 2.
House leadership aides said just before midnight July 29 that the bill, a three-year authorization that recommends funding the U.S.space agency at roughly $19 billion a year through 2013, would not be taken up July 30, and that it is very unlikely the measure will cometo a vote before lawmakers head home to campaign in their districts. Although the bill, H.R. 5781, would not actually fund NASA, it would set guidelines for how much Congress can spend on the agency’s programs. In June House appropriators approved a $19 billion budget for NASA next year, but fenced off most of the agency’s $4.2 billion human space exploration budget pending enactment of an authorization bill.
The House Science and Technology Committee approved H.R. 5781 with strong bipartisan support July 22, sending forward a bill that authorizes only a small fraction of the $3.3 billion NASA sought to invest in a commercial crew transportation system over the next three years. The bill authorized $150 million through 2013 for commercial crew and another $300 million in the form of government-backed loans or loan guarantees. The measure also would continue much of the work being done under NASA’s Constellation program, a 5-year-old effort to build new rockets and spacecraft optimized for lunar missions that President Barack Obama targeted for termination in his 2011 spending proposal delivered to Congress in February.
With little time remaining in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, House Science and Technology Committee Chairman Rep. Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) sought to bring the measure to the House floor under suspension of the rules — a move that prevents amendments to a bill and requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass. But Gordon encountered resistance from House members hoping to weigh in on the measure during floor debate. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and other House Democrats met with Gordon early July 29 to address concerns with key elements of the legislation.
“We had a good conversation about the difficult choices facing the agency and promised to continue to work together to reach consensus on the bill,” Schiff said of the meeting through a spokesperson July 29.
Schiff was one of 13 Democratic members of the California delegation who urged Gordon’s committee to restore funding for commercial crew and cargo initiatives and exploration technology programs requested in NASA’s 2011 spending plan.
snip
------------------------------
If you thought you were going to get some gold coins thrown your way and now looks like you are only going to get copper pieces, I guess you are saying "Not Fair", Why didn't you bring a bigger bag of coins, and forget all those other hands that are outstretched. Get back, get back, see me, see me.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.
Showdown over space policy
Alan Boyle writes: Rocketeers ranging from SpaceX's millionaire founder to the maverick engineers behind the DIRECT heavy-lift design effort are sounding the alarm over a space spending bill due for consideration by the House on Friday. Their bottom line: Support the Senate version of the bill instead.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/
H.R. 5781 , the House's version of the $19 billion NASA authorization bill for fiscal 2011, lops off most of $6 billion being sought by the Obama administration for boosting the development of commercial spaceships capable of bringing astronauts to the International Space Station over the next five years. Instead, it would put more money into the internal NASA rocket development program - although not as much as previously budgeted under a plan that an independent panel said was "not viable."
For a detailed analysis of the various plans, check out this comparison from the Space Foundation, and this Popular Mechanics commentary by Rand Simberg.
Many folks on the entrepreneurial space frontier say the House spending plan is so deficient that the Senate version must prevail, even though it also short-changes commercial space development. They say the alternative could be an extended period of dependence on the Russians for crew transport.
snip
------------------------------
So the legislative process goes on, inside and outside and in the halls. It doesn't seem to be a done deal and if there isn't any money to fund then it will just be words on paper. Keith Cowling adds a few words at NASA WATCH.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.nasawatch.com/
Showdown Ahead For H.R. 5781?
By Keith Cowing on July 29, 2010 7:26 P
Commercial Space Advocates Rally To Stall NASA Authorization Bill, SpaceNews
http://www.spacenews.com/
"House sources said July 28 that a floor vote on the NASA authorization could come as early as July 29, but opponents of the bill -- primarily commercial space advocates -- were successful in stalling the measure, which now is unlikely to be considered before July 30, sources said. Gordon is seeking to bring the measure to the House floor under suspension of the rules, a procedural tactic that prevents amendments to a bill during limited floor debate and which requires a two-thirds majority vote to pass."
snip
------------------------------
To schedule or not to schedule, that is the question?
Then there is, to vote for or not to vote for, and who will think me bad if I do or don't.
Will I need the other representatives support on MY BILL when I present?
My, my, decisions, decisions.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://www.spacepolitics.com/
HR 5781 schedule, and supporting the home team
July 30, 2010 at 6:17 am · Filed under Congress, NASA
It’s not a guarantee that action on the bill is delayed, but HR 5781, the NASA authorization bill, does not appear on the House floor schedule for Friday as distributed by the office of the House Majority Leader. Several bills are up for consideration under suspension of the rules, some of which were postponed from yesterday, but the NASA bill is not among them. Schedules, as always, are subject to change.
http://majorityleader.gov/
Meanwhile, in a meeting with the editorial board of Florida Today, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk elaborated on his comments in the call-to-action email the company sent out yesterday morning. “It seems like just a basic rule of thumb — maybe you want to spend as much on the American team as you do on the Russians,” Musk told the paper, noting that the bill authorizes several times as much money for buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft as it does for commercial crew development. “It just seems like a crazy time to be doing that sort of thing.”
snip
------------------------------
Okay, I passed some folks links to H.R. 5781 at Thomas.loc and the search links had expired.
If that is the case with you, then just go to the thomas.loc home page and do your own search.
Knowing how may come in handy later when you have something else you would like to check on.
- LRK -
------------------------------
http://thomas.loc.gov/home/
THOMAS
In the spirit of Thomas Jefferson, legislative information from the
Library of Congress
[Note: In Search Bill Summary & Status - use 'Bill Number' search
option, enter H.R. 5781]
snip
------------------------------
I think politics is messy and not the most efficient way to run a government. Then again, it is very nice to be able to stand up and say what you want done. In some places one would just be told what to do, or else.
- LRK -
Thanks for looking up with me.
- LRK -
==============================
WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK
==============================
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