spacetoday.net: House passes INA reform bill

Posted: Thu, Oct 27, 2005, 8:19 AM ET (1219 GMT)
US Capitol

The US House of Representatives passed legislation Wednesday night that would allow NASA to purchase ISS flight services from Russia, averting a potential crisis about US access to the station. The House passed by a voice vote S.1713, a bill that would amend the Iran Nonproliferation Act to remove a provision preventing NASA from purchasing ISS-related hardware and services from Russia unless the President determined that Russia was not assisting Iran's nuclear and missile programs. The bill, S.1713, had been passed by the Senate last month under unanimous consent, but the House amended the bill slightly to avoid a backlash from members of Congress opposed to relieving any pressure on Iranian weapons efforts. The Senate is expected to approve the House-amended version of the bill. Without the bill, NASA would no longer be able to fly astronauts to and from the station on Soyuz spacecraft, since an earlier ISS agreement whereby Russia provided such services for free has run out.