|
"Mr. Speaker, I rise today to express my deep disappointment at a missed opportunity in this Stimulus Bill. Before us is a package that many claim will stimulate the American economy and create jobs. But we are on the verge of losing thousands of highly skilled American jobs and this bill has done nothing to address the situation.
"As Ranking Member of the Science and Technology Committee, I am particularly concerned about a section aimed at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. As many of us are aware, NASA is currently on a path to retire the Space Shuttle in 2010 and develop the next generation launch system, but without sufficient funding that replacement system cannot be ready before 2015 at the earliest. During this five year gap, America will pay cash to Russia to provide transportation for our astronauts to our International Space Station.
"The bill calls for $600 million, but none of that money will help close this impending gap. This one-time addition will not keep an estimated 5,600 jobs from disappearing during the gap, and it will not reduce our dependency on and payments to Russia. I want to be clear—because this bill fails to include funding to reduce the gap, we will be forced to lay off high tech workers in the United States while we are paying Russia to do the job that these American workers used to do.
"Many Members of Congress have been concerned by this situation. Last year’s NASA Authorization Bill passed the House with a resounding vote of 409 – 15 and authorized an additional $1 billion to accelerate the development of the shuttle follow-on--known as Constellation System. Unless the Constellation System can be delivered sooner than 2015, we stand to lose thousands of highly-skilled aerospace jobs that will be very difficult and costly to replace. The sooner these systems are developed the sooner we eliminate our reliance on the Russians for access to the International Space Station, and give our Nation the systems necessary to explore beyond low-Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond.
"Keeping American tax dollars working for us here at home would stimulate the creation of highly-skilled, well-paid jobs in this country. Furthermore these types of investments in our Nation’s space transportation infrastructure would continue to pay dividends and have large multiplier effects throughout the economy by stimulating high-tech manufacturing and networks of suppliers around the country. It is exactly the kind of thing that should be part of this “stimulus package.” Not funding the acceleration of the Constellation Systems represents a failure of our national leadership that will be paid for on the backs of American aerospace workers and with a loss of our industrial competitiveness against our international competitors.
It makes me sick that we are bailing out failed banks and corporations while ignoring the support of a successful Space Station and space program—a program that could defend our nation from space and provide a cure for our most deadly diseases. By lessening the utility of a Space Station that provides a platform for lifesaving research, including growing white corpuscles that could be used to cure cancer, we are weakening our competitiveness. We are allowing Russia to reap the benefits of our space program—benefits that are badly needed here at home. It is comparable to buying energy from Saudi Arabia and other nations and not spending that same amount developing our own natural resources, such as those found in ANWR, off the coasts of Florida and California, and in the energy-rich Gulf of Mexico.
I am told that the total budget for NASA is less than 1% of the Federal budget (7/10ths to be exact). Surely, we can honor the request that Congresswoman Kosmas had in her amendment that the Rules Committee rejected—a request that would have narrowed the gap—especially considering that we throw away billions on other nations through foreign aid. President Monroe is famous for saying “hands off this hemisphere,” but we should be saying “hands on this hemisphere” and protecting our own American citizens, and their jobs, first. |