The Republican-majority House Committee on Science, Space and Technology voted Thursday to make deep cuts into NASA's Earth science budget, in an effort to get the agency to focus on space exploration instead of research involving climate science.
The markup for the NASA authorization bill for the fiscal years 2016 and 2017 was passed on a party-line vote. Democrats were kept out of the loop and Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas said that her caucus was not even aware that the markup was in place before May 1.
"It's hard to believe that in order to serve an ideological agenda, the majority is willing to slash the science that helps us have a better understanding of our home planet," she said.
NASA was disappointed with the move as well. The agency said the budget cut could set back generations of progress in understanding the changing climate, which dictates how people should prepare for and respond to major weather events.
"NASA leads the world in the exploration of and study of planets, and none is more important than the one one which we live," noted Charles Bolden, the agency's administrator, adding that the authorization bill cuts funds to critical technology needed by the United States to remain a leader in space exploration.
The NASA authorization bill will take away almost 20 percent or $323 million from the current budget of $1.77 billion — bringing the agency's Earth science fund to $1.45 billion. In certain cases, the budget may be further reduced, dropping to $1.2 billion to represent a cut of almost a third.
Compared with President Barack Obama's request to provide NASA with $1.95 billion for the 2016 fiscal year — the bill will instead offer a budget that is at least 26 percent lower.
Committee Chairman Lamar Smith said the bill was supported by The Planetary Society of science education promoter Bill Nye, lending validity to their decision to slash NASA's Earth science budget. For its part, however, the organization responded that it doesn't actually support the bill. While it does appreciate a focus on space exploration, The Planetary Society can't support the bill as it is because it downplayed the importance of Earth science.
"We hope that the committee markup will find ways to preserve and grow all science as this moves forward," clarified Casey Dreier, director of advocacy for the organization.
