GREENBELT, Md. — Members of Maryland’s congressional delegation expressed confidence that Congress will ultimately reject sharp cuts in NASA science programs proposed by the White House, citing competition with China as one factor.
Speaking to reporters outside the main entrance to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Sen. Chris Van Hollen and Reps. Steny Hoyer and Glenn Ivey, all Maryland Democrats, reiterated their opposition to a nearly 50% cut in NASA science programs that the administration included in a “passback” budget document delivered to the agency last week.
“If you cut the science programming in half, you hurt our country in many ways,” Van Hollen said. “You hurt our national security. You hurt our innovation economy. You hurt our leadership around the world.”
He and others argued that cuts to NASA science would give China an edge in space science. “China is already working on mimicking the success of the US space program over time, including the success of our space science programs,” he said. “So this is no time for the United States to retreat when it comes to space science.”
“Are we going to decide that we want to continue to maintain the lead in science and technology over the rest of the world, or not, because right now, China’s right at our heels,” said Ivey, whose district includes Goddard. “They’re pushing resources and investment far beyond what the United States is doing.”
While much of the proposed cuts are concentrated on science programs, Hoyer argued they would affect other parts of the agency, quoting former NASA administrator Bill Nelson’s reaction to the proposal: “They’re going to run NASA into a very deep ditch if they proceed with this kind of savagery.”
Any attempt to reject the proposed cuts will require assistance from Republicans, who hold narrow majorities in both the House and Senate. Van Hollen, who is the ranking member on the commerce, justice and science (CJS) subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said he met with his counterpart, Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.). before the release of the passback. “He, I believe, fully understands the importance of the Goddard space science mission,” he said.
“I believe that Republicans will recognize that a 50% cut to the NASA science budget is harmful to the national security and other interests of the United States,” Van Hollen concluded.
The members spoke after they toured Goddard, home to missions like the Roman Space Telescope and DAVINCI Venus probe threatened with cancellation by the proposal. “This meeting and visit to Goddard was at our request,” Hoyer said, and not initiated by NASA. “They were not lobbying us.”
They were clearly concerned, though, about the impact on Goddard and the community should the budget proposal be enacted. Van Hollen said the proposal itself did not explicitly call for closing Goddard, as some reported, but it would “decimate” the center nonetheless. “It would clearly have a harmful impact on a local economy, regional economy and all the people who work at NASA.”
He said he could not rule out the cuts in the science budget, which would primarily affect Goddard and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, were “political retribution” against California and Maryland, two heavily Democratic states. “You can be sure that we will make the case that political retribution has no place in the appropriations process,” he said. “I think our Republican Senate colleagues and Republican House colleagues recognize that that is a very dangerous road to go down.”