Congress Approves $58 Billion for NASA Over Next Three Years

Washington -- A three year spending bill for the on-going operations of NASA was passed by the House of representatives based on the adoption of Senate Bill S.3729. According to a press release #10-238 found on the NASA.Gov website, authored by David Weaver dated 10-29-2010.

As it turns out the House was running out of time to get their version of the bill together, so they agreed drafting their own version would cause them to miss a vote on this issues before the end of their current session. As a result some of the verbiage in this bill was not exactly what some of the representatives from Ohio or the folks over at NASA Glenn Research may have wanted.

No matter how this wording turns out, In my mind it is definitely better than the alternative, which would have most certainly been layoffs and closures had this money not been appropriated in time. This funding may have staved off layoffs at the NASA facility in Cleveland.

The issue here is whether or not this kind of spending makes sense in light of what our jobless rates are and how slowly we are moving forward out of this lame economy. Some would argue that this money would be better spent elsewhere, but in reality the jobs that already exist could have been lost had this money not come in, then those newly unemployed folks would have added to the already substantial burden on our unemployment system!

There is no guarantee that any specific facility will be targeted for layoff and possible closure, but the legislators who voted against it seem to feel that there is also no protection against those events either. Welcome to the real world of uncertain unemployment folks! This Act allows NASA Glenn to continue operating as it has been for at least the next three years. This really is a good thing for the folks at NASA, and also for the City of Cleveland. NASA Glenn Research Center has been a part of the technology center in town for a very long time.

The main point of NASA in Cleveland is for research into manned space flight and related types of engineering projects. Some of their focus has been on engine technology, which includes research into cleaner more efficient and quieter supersonic jet engines. If we as a country give up on this important topic, then what is next to go? do we stop funding the arts, sciences, libraries, and universities? Because they are in a similar field as they don't really make a product to be sold to others, and they are a constant drain on our finances.

Let's imagine the state of our country without the efforts of places like NASA! They are doing work which we can all be extremely proud of? It would be a much more utilitarian state of chaos without NASA that is for certain.

So how does this $20 Billion a year affect the taxpayers? Well let's put this into perspective, according to the official "treasury direct" website: www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin Which shows real time national debt, that number is currently at over 13.5 Trillion Dollars. So it does not seem to me that the amount being set aside for NASA to stay afloat is all that big a deal!

According to the Ohio Department of Development website: www.development.ohio.gov/research/files/B100000002.pdf NASA Glenn employs around 3100 people, some civilian and some military, and they are working on real cutting edge science that can help us here on earth as well as out in space. They still work on projects which directly support the space station as well. A new focus has been on engine technology for supersonic flight!

Having a facility like this in Cleveland definitely sets us apart, and it really is something to be proud of. There are only about 10 locations in the United States with similar NASA facilities. So the ones we do have must stay here and they must stay open!! As Americans we should be proud of the successes of our space program and with planning and foresight we will continue to see great things come out of this very special research facility!

I would like to thank our legislators for doing a fine job of understanding the importance of maintaining a working space program with ongoing R&D monies being spent on a regular basis. So NASA Glenn is still viable thanks to a wise move on capital hill by our legislators, and I personally think it is a really good thing to support.

Follow this story as it develops as to exactly what wording will be changed before this "Act" becomes law. This will have to wait until the President reviews it, and either vetoes the act, or passes it with changes, or he may even leave it intact. When congress convenes their session they would review any changes, and vote again. But at this time it would appear that the Act will easily become law.

If you are interested in reading the actual Act a .PDF document, please go to this site and search for S3729.
frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/

Thank you for reading my articles here on AC-Yahoo!