NASA budget-writers in the House and Senate are moving forward this week with contrasting spending plans for the space agency.
The full Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) is slated to meet late this week to mark up a fiscal year 2013 NASA budget of $19.4 billion, or $1.6 billion more for the space agency than in FY ’12. Across the Capitol, the House Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee (HAC-CJS) will consider its version of the space agency’s budget, which has $17.6 billion–or $226 million below FY ’12 levels. While the Senate version represents an increase to NASA’s proposed FY ’13 budget, the House one would be a decrease.
For manned spaceflight, the SAC bill would provide $1.2 billion for the Orion crew vehicle, which is the same funding level as in FY ’12 but more than in the HAC version, which calls for $1 billion for the capsule. For developing the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, both the House and Senate panels call for $1.5 billion, a slight drop form FY ’12 funding.
The NASA bills the House subpanel and Senate committee will weigh have been largely praised by appropriators this week.
On the House side, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) said the space agency funding–within the larger Commerce, Justice, Science bill–“provides healthy funding levels for many NASA programs.”