McCain Changes Stance on NASA Funding

As I have said before, I don't think it matters a whole lot whether the next President promises us the Moon...literally! It is going to be Congress that decides what to fund!

The fact that John McCain has included NASA in the NON-freeze catagories is a GREAT THING! But, I'm afraid that it won't matter much, even if he's elected.

Barack Obama has said he supports NASA, but if he becomes President, the devil will still be in the details, and will depend in a large part on what Congress FUNDS!

We, the voters must continue to urge support for NASA and whatever space efforts prove the most practicable, or we will see an end to America's pre-eminence in space!

Trailrider:
I couldn't have said it better myself.
I believe that whoever becomes our next POTUS will continue to fund NASA in the same way the current administration does. The POTUS will not be able to pull funding, seeing that there are many centers in many states with very loud voices. However, getting more funding will prove to be very difficult. NASA's vision for space exploration is going to have to learn to live with this funding, even if it means re-baselining some of Cx.

Keith, your bias is showing.......

Originally, Obama said he wanted to essentially kill US manned spaceflight and use the money for education. After the primaries, he's changed his story. Who knows, after the election he could change it again. McCain's changes are minor compared to Obama's.

Re: Obama supporting NASA: See http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2007/11/obama-pits-huma.html (Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released a new $18 billion education plan yesterday that he proposes to pay for by delaying the NASA Constellation program (to return humans to the moon) five years.
), Obama just flat-out wants to cut Constellation: a delay of 5 years with no funding is as good as forever.

Yes, Trailrider, Congress funds - but the President approves the funds.

We do agree that the voters must work or we will lose.

"I will freeze government spending on all but the most important programs like defense, veterans care, NASA, Social Security and health care..."

The problem is that this almost the entire budget. Ignore NASA (which is only 0.4% of the budget)-- if he isn't freezing defense, veteran's care, Social Security and Health Care, there's almost nothing left.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Fy2008spendingbycategory.png

The way I see it, NASA will continue to tread water under President McCain, but who the heck knows which way the wind blows under a President Obama.

The political cognitive dissonance has reached a deafening crescendo in the final days of the election cycle. Anyone who believes anything a presidential candidate says, or promises, seriously needs a head examination. Breaking campaign promises knows no partisan boundary. What would happen if every single American simply yawned at every single campaign promise made by a candidate?

Deeds, not words. I don't want either of these idiots in the Oval Office. I'm mad as hell and I am not gonna take it any more!

It's not at all clear that this represents a change. It's consistent with earlier statements. His intermediate list of spending categories exempt from the freeze appears to have been more illustrative than exhaustive. When I say that I like hamburgers, it doesn't mean that I dislike hot dogs.

When reading Mr. Cowing's "articles", one must remember that he is an acolyte for Mr. Obama's socialism AND, most importantly, he is clearly on a campaign to return to the trough of questionable "value" as a NASA "employee". After all, he has informed the world of all that is wrong with NASA for the last 8 years. Maybe he can actually contribute with results in lieu of "hot air". Now, let's see, Cowing's Spock is/will be out of vogue, perhaps Roddy McDowell/POTA will befit the new administrator (or one of his new hires). We'll see.

Socialist Acolyte Editor's note: Actually, NASA Watch has been online for 12 years - not 8.

I don't see a bias in Keith's reporting. He posted Obama's earliest comments to delay CxP and put the money towards education, as well as his more recent change in position to spend $2 billion more on NASA when he was on tour in Florida. He reports when either candidate says something about NASA, good or bad. He is often critical of NASA, usually justifiable, sometimes not in my opinion. But there is not a considerable partisan bias to what I read on NASA Watch. He might lean a little left sometimes (my perception), but not nearly to the extent of the mainstream media. He certainly is not as partisan as some of those posting on this website, and he posts their comments without modification.

By the way, McCain has changed his stance from a freeze on ALL government spending for one year, to a freeze on all but "important" spending including NASA. Also, spending on Social Security is mandated by law and not subject to any "freeze" by the president. It's called non-discretionary spending and only Congress can change non-discretionary spending by changing the law. That couldn't be done until next fiscal year at best in FY10. Sounds like McCain doesn't understand how the budget works if he's claiming to "not freeze" Social Security spending which he absolutely cannot influence in his first year in office.

I used to think that the person in the Oval Office didn't matter, and most things would sail right along. Two NASA related issues (and so much of everything else) changed my mind. In about 20 minutes, President Bush initiated fundamental changes in the structure and activities of NASA by calling for Moon/Mars. Also, it is clear that political appointees, many apparently unqualified for their positions, are rummaging around every agency. I cannot believe McCain's change platform would actually root those out.