The National Aeronautics and Space Administration Fiscal year 2012 Budget Request

Opening Statement By Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson

Opening Statement

Ranking Member Eddie Bernice Johnson

 Full Committee Hearing

 March 2, 2011

 Thank you Chairman Hall, and welcome back to the Committee, Administrator Bolden.   I want to congratulate you and your agency on the successful launch of STS-133.  I understand that the mission has been very productive to date, and I look forward to the crew’s safe return to Earth next week.

Today is theCongress’s first opportunity to review the president’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget request for NASA.  This budget request is coming over in a very challenging budgetary environment, with the appropriations for FY 2011 still undecided even though we are now five months into that year.  I can only imagine the challenges you are facing, Mr. Administrator, in trying to plan and carry out the challenging activities that the nation has asked you to undertake when the budgetary sands keep shifting under you.

I hope that we are able to resolve our current appropriations impasse soon, but I also hope that an agreement doesn’t come at the expense of the critical investments this nation needs to make to prepare for the future.  I consider NASA to be one of those critical investments.

One only has to look at all of the advances, new technologies, and inspiration that NASA has delivered over the years to realize that the people of NASA are one of our nation’s vital resources, and we need to support them and their important missions in space and Earth science, aeronautics, and human space flight and exploration.  I could spend my entire time today listing just some of the fruits of our past investments in NASA that have become embedded in our daily life, whether they be as broad in scope as global satellite communications or as specific as smoke detectors, cordless power tools, digital mammography, body imaging, and firefighter breathing systems.

Other nations increasingly are recognizing the benefits a strong and active space program can deliver, and as a result we see them being willing to make the necessary investments to build their space capabilities.  However, I am worried that we here in America are forgetting how important these R&D investments are to our future, and how critical this skilled workforce is to our future competitiveness.

Mr. Bolden, I am a great admirer of you and the inspirational leadership you bring to NASA.  I am also a supporter of the president who wishes him to be successful in his policy initiatives.  However, I have to say that I am disappointed in the budget request that is before us today, especially in light of all the work that Congress undertook last year to forge a constructive path forward for the nation’s space program.

While last year’s Authorization Act was by no means a perfect bill, it did cl

Witnesses

Panel

0 - Mr. Charles F. Bolden
Administrator National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration
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