Dreier Fights to Preserve JPL Funding

July 25, 2003

WASHINGTON, DC - Congressman David Dreier (R-CA), Chairman of the House Rules Committee, led the effort today to defeat an amendment that would shift $115 million away from NASA's innovative Project Prometheus, which is critical to the La Canada Flintridge-based Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Project Prometheus will use breakthrough nuclear propulsion and power systems to fuel an ambitious mission, managed by JPL, to Jupiter's icy moons which astrobiologists believe could harbor organic material, and lay the groundwork for even more ambitious exploration missions in the coming decades. The amendment to the FY04 VA/HUD Appropriations Bill, H.R. 2861, was defeated 114-309. The bill, which contains $7.746 billion for the NASA accounts that fund JPL, was approved with broad, bipartisan support 316-109.

"The people at JPL need to know they have the funding they need to carry on their work," Dreier said. "I am very pleased we were able to defeat this amendment and preserve the important funding. I will continue to fight for JPL as this bill moves through the legislative process."

After the Senate passes its own version of the FY04 VA/HUD Appropriations Bill, the House and Senate versions will be reconciled in a conference committee, approved by both houses and sent to the President for his signature.