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	Lawmakers Say President Bush is 'Killing' Space Exploration By Larry Wheeler FLORIDA TODAY posted: 07:00 am ET 08 November 2001

WASHINGTON -- Republican and Democratic lawmakers accused the Bush administration Wednesday of ignoring the nation's civilian space program and putting the troubled International Space Station at risk.

"Budgeteers are slowly killing space exploration, but in the end it will have President Bush's fingerprints on it," said Rep. Dave Weldon, R-Palm Bay, in a harsh statement delivered during a House Science Committee hearing.

Weldon, whose congressional district includes Kennedy Space Center, complained that Bush administration officials did not respond to letters he sent regarding the space station.

The Florida congressman's sharp rebuke was prompted, in part, by the Bush administration's endorsement of a new blueprint for the International Space Station that could lead to significant civil service and contractor layoffs and possibly the closure of some National Aeronautics and Space Administration enterprises.

Last week, the Independent Management and Cost Evaluation Task Force reported NASA can't complete the full-size, six-person space station it envisioned within the Bush administration's five-year budget plan.

In fact, the space agency may not be able to finish a smaller, three-person station within the current budget without siphoning money from elsewhere within NASA, the task force concluded.

The blunt assessment exposed deep divisions among House Science Committee lawmakers who had previously stood together in rallying congressional support for the space station despite numerous cost overruns and schedule delays.

"The nation has already pumped almost $30 billion into the space station," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., chairman of the Science Committee. "We need to salvage that investment."

Boehlert said his committee supports task force recommendations that include reducing the number of shuttle flights to the station while increasing reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

But Weldon and Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Texas, both said the task force recommendations were unacceptable.

"Who is going to implement these changes?" Lampson asked. "If we follow this path, we're clearly setting ourselves up for failure."

Not only has NASA destroyed its credibility with repeated cost estimate failures, the agency is suffering from a lack of guidance as top managers flee.

NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin is leaving, as is one of his top deputies, Joe Rothenberg. The agency's comptroller is leaving next year. Johnson Space Center still has no permanent director, a vacancy created when George Abbey was reassigned earlier this year when it was revealed the station was $4.8 billion over budget.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., reprimanded his colleagues for criticizing the Bush administration.

"Let's not blame OMB," Rohrabacher said. "I believe we could have built a space station with the money we have already spent."

Sean O'Keefe, deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the Bush administration supports the task force reforms because they give NASA an opportunity to re-establish confidence in its performance over a two-year period.