spacetoday.net: House bill offers flat funding for NASA

Posted: Fri, Jul 10, 2020, 5:56 PM ET (2156 GMT)
US Capitol

A House spending bill rejected the administration's request for a 12% increase in NASA's budget for 2021. The bill, released Tuesday and marked up by a House Appropriations Committee subcommittee without changes Wednesday, provides $22.6 billion for NASA, the same amount the agency received in 2020 and far less than the $25.2 billion sought in the agency's budget proposal. NASA's exploration R&D budget line, which includes work on human lunar landers, is allocated a little more than $1.5 billion in the bill, slightly above its 2020 level but well below the requested $4.7 billion. The bill increases funding for science programs compared to the administration's request and also funds the agency's education programs, which the proposal sought once again to cancel. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said the bill is "an important first step in this year's appropriations process" and expressed hope a Senate version of the bill will provide more funding for lunar exploration.