spacetoday.net: Congress approves reduced NASA budget

Posted: Thu, Feb 15, 2007, 7:48 AM ET (1248 GMT)
US Capitol

The Senate passed a funding bill Wednesday that will give NASA about half a billion dollars less than what it originally anticipated for 2007. The Senate passed the joint funding resolution, an appropriations bill that covers NASA and many other federal agencies for which fiscal year 2007 budgets were not approved by Congress last fall. Some agencies, including NASA, were funded at only their 2006 levels, resulting in just over $16.2 billion for NASA, compared to the nearly $16.8 billion that the Bush Administration had requested for the agency. Nearly all of the cut will be absorbed by the exploration program, which some in NASA and the space industry concerned that the cut could delay development of the Orion spacecraft and Ares 1 launcher. Congress has yet to begin work on the administration's FY08 budget request, which includes $17.3 billion for NASA.