Space Access Political Action Alert 9/21/99
____________________________________________________________________
Defense Appropriations Conference Happens Wednesday 9/22
Fax or Call These Senators, Representatives ASAP!
Summary:
The first of two jobs this week is to persuade the House-Senate
conference committee, that will work out a final FY '00 Defense
Appropriations bill starting tomorrow, that they should "support the
Senate position providing $25 million for USAF Space Maneuver
Vehicle". This one is short-notice; our apologies for not getting
word sooner. The conference committee will almost certainly meet
sometime this Wednesday, September 22nd - please call or fax them by
Wednesday evening at the latest, and preferably as much earlier in
the day as possible.
The likely conference committee members are, on the Senate side,
Ted Stevens, Alaska - Chairman
Thad Cochran, Mississippi
Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania
Pete V. Domenici, New Mexico
Christopher S. Bond, Missouri
Mitch McConnell, Kentucky
Richard C. Shelby, Alabama
Judd Gregg, New Hampshire
Kay Bailey Hutchison, Texas
Daniel K. Inouye, Hawaii - Ranking Member
Ernest F. Hollings, South Carolina
Robert C. Byrd, West Virginia
Patrick J. Leahy, Vermont
Frank R. Lautenberg, New Jersey
Tom Harkin, Iowa
Byron Dorgan, North Dakota
Richard Durbin, Illinois
and on the House side
Jerry Lewis, Calif., Chairman
John P. Murtha, Penn, RMM
C.W. Bill Young, Fla.
Norman D. Dicks, Wash.
Joe Skeen, N.M.
Martin Olav Sabo, Minn.
David Hobson, Ohio
Julian C. Dixon, Calif.
Henry Bonilla, Texas
Peter J. Visclosky, Ind.
George R. Nethercutt, Jr., Wash.
James P. Moran, Va.
Ernest J. Istook, Jr., Okla.
Randy "Duke" Cunningham, Calif.
Jay Dickey, Ark.
Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, N.J.
Get their DC office numbers from www.vote-smart.org and call or fax
with the above message ASAP if one of these is your Senator or
Representative.
Background:
House and Senate Defense Appropriators will be meeting Wednesday in
a "conference committee" to resolve differences in their versions of
the DOD funding bill. The Senate version has $25 million for SMV,
Space Maneuver Vehicle, a reusable upper stage project we support.
The House Defense Appropriation has nothing for SMV, although both
House and Senate did authorize (place on the approved shopping list)
funds for SMV.
The Air Force Research Lab flew the X-40A unpowered SMV tesbed
successfully last summer. NASA "Future-X" has since taken up the
project as the X-37. This SMV funding is for either a second NASA
X-37 or a first USAF X-40B, depending on who you ask - the AF people
apparently need enough internal differences from the X-37 that a
separate designator might make sense, but both would be built by the
X-37 contractor with pretty much the same basic airframe. Either
way, it's a very useful reusable upper stage with non-toxic storable
fuels, with considerable potential for extended operations in orbit
before reentry, landing, and reuse.
How To Do It
Get the appropriate Senator's or Representative's DC office 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 information desk.
If you're faxing, compose a polite concise one-page letter to them,
saying who you are and where you're from, 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 phoning, dial their DC office number, ask for whoever handles
Defense 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 Pocatello Idaho") and what you want them to
do ("I'm calling to ask the Senator/Congressman to support the
Senate position of $25 million for Air Force Space Maneuver Vehicle
work.") then (unless they have questions) thank them for their time
and ring off.
Other News
Look for another Alert late Wednesday - the HUD/VA (NASA) conference
will almost certainly happen early next week, with much of the staff
work taking place over this weekend, once the Senate debates and
passes their HUD/VA appropriation over tomorrow and likely Thursday.
The good news is that the Senate appropriators worked out fiscal
hocus-pocus that allowed them to fund NASA at the requested level -
no overall cuts. The better news is that the House leadership
appears likely to adopt the Senate's fiscal maneuver, and will
probably go along in conference with restoring the House NASA cuts.
The best news, from our point of view, is that the Senate saw fit to
move a hundred million dollars into NASA's Aero Space Technology
account, "for the design, development, and testing of future launch
technologies". The Senate was vague about what specific programs
this would go to, deliberately so, we are told. We, on the other
hand, are not vague at all about how best to spend this - we'll be
asking you tomorrow to push hard with the confereees for fifty
million of this to be added to NASA Future-X for low-cost reusable
launch operations demonstrators.
(We do regret that this money was moved from NASA's space science
account rather than added, but the Senate decided that, not us - we
have always asked for an add. We do note that the net effect is of
a bit over a forty million dollar cut from last year's NASA space
science funding level, a vast improvement on the cuts of hundreds of
millions in the House version, and a wrist-slap in budgetary terms
given the problems with NASA space science the Senate lists in their
report on the bill. We also note that the other justification we've
heard for this transfer, that lower launch costs will benefit all in
the long run, space science included, is one we quite agree with.)
*end*