Space Access Political Action Alert 9/3/99 ____________________________________________________________________ - Contact Your Congressman by Wednesday! - Senate HUD/VA Markup Likely Week After Next Write, Fax or Call Your Congressman by Wednesday! Congress will come back into session after their August break this coming Wednesday, September 8th. The full House is currently expected to debate and vote on their HUD/VA (NASA) Appropriation that same day. As it emerged from committee, that bill contains roughly $900 million in NASA cuts, about two-thirds of that in space-based science. We are asking you all to contact your local Congressman and ask him or her to restore the NASA space science budget cuts in the HUD/VA Appropriation. This may seem a bit outside our area, but we do have what we think are good reasons. First, unless these cuts are in large part restored, there is very little chance we'll get an "add" for NASA Future-X. Restoring some significant part of the cuts in the House improves odds of getting Future-X money added in the Senate, in our estimation. Second, these parts of NASA being cut are those that tend to be most flexible about buying commercial launches when appropriate; they are good for the market that we're trying to encourage. Third, these parts of NASA being cut tend to be places where better-faster-cheaper has actually been happening; this is a trend we'd like to encourage. Note that we are taking no position on the Shuttle and Station cuts that make up the other third of the overall reductions. The message we recommend is "restore the NASA space science cuts". "Restore the NASA cuts" period is of course an option if you prefer. How To Do It Get your Congressman's DC office address or phone or fax number, via www.vote-smart.org (have an old bill with your nine-digit zip handy) or by calling your local library's information desk. If you're writing or faxing, compose a polite concise one-page letter to them, identifying yourself as a constituent of theirs, telling them what you'd like them to do, then briefly explaining why - just hit one or two high points, don't overexplain. Thank them for their attention, sign the letter, and send it. If you're writing, remember Monday is a holiday - get it to the Post Office Saturday or you'll have to overnight it Tuesday. If phoning during Tuesday or first thing Wednesday, dial their DC office number, ask for whoever handles NASA appropriations questions, then when connected to that staffer (or more likely their voice mail) tell them briefly who you are ("I'm Joe Smith from Peoria") and what you want them to do ("Restore the NASA space science budget cuts"), then (unless they have questions) thank them for their time and ring off. Senate HUD/VA Markup Likely Week After Next The next key item is going to be persuading the Senate Appropriators to "add $30 million for NASA Future-X flight demonstrators, as provided for in the House NASA Authorization". The Senate HUD/VA Appropriations Subcommittee is currently expected to "mark up" sometime during the week of September 13th. There is a small chance they might get to that late next week; we'll be putting out a specific Alert on that either way. Meanwhile, for you self-starters out there, the subcommittee members are Stevens AK, Byrd WV, Bond MO, Burns MT, Shelby AL, Craig ID, Hutchison TX, Kyl AZ, Mikulski MD, Leahy VT, Lautenberg NJ, Harkin IA - call fax or write with the above message, if one of these is your Senator. Thanks! *end*