Maryland lawmakers are pushing back on a proposal advanced Thursday in the Republican-led House of Representatives to cut funding for the James Webb Space Telescope, which supports hundreds of jobs at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.
A House appropriations subcommittee with oversight of NASA and other federal agencies approved by voice vote a spending bill that would strip funding for the project, which is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The program is more than $1.5 billion over budget and its launch has been delayed to 2018 at the earliest.
The spending legislation demonstrates "our commitment to restoring austerity, restraint and thoughtfulness to the" spending process, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, said in a statement. Without mentioning the telescope directly, Rogers said the legislation eliminates "extraneous, duplicative and unnecessary programs."
Maryland Democrats called the move shortsighted. Rep. Donna F. Edwards argued that the project is 75 percent complete and said it supports 2,000 jobs, including 500 in Maryland.
1. Conceive of a wildly expensive and unnecessary project.
ReplyDelete2. Spend like crazy to get it up and running.
3. Blow past your budget limits using the rationalization, "well, we're started now, and they won't stop us.
4. When someone pulls the reins, whine about lost jobs.
What part of " WE ARE BROKE "
ReplyDeletedon't the dumbocrats get?