Dale Bumpers: “this will be the eighth year that I have stood here and debated whether or not America should go forward with a space…”

“this will be the eighth year that I have stood here and debated whether or not America should go forward with a space station. I didn't like the idea of the Space Station Freedom, but it was probably a bargain compared to what the International Space Station is turning out to be. First, I would like to pose a question to my colleagues: Why is it that we continue to fund a program called the International Space Station, when every cellular biologist, every medical researcher, and every physicist in America who isn't involved in the program itself is vehemently opposed to it? These are some of the most brilliant people in America. Before we start off spending $100 billion, we ought to ask ourselves, Why are they opposed? Well, for very good reasons, and I will come back to those in just a minute. It is a mystery that here in Congress we talk seriously about a program which in the last 3 years has become almost laughable. If it weren't so serious and the amount of money so enormous, it would be almost a comedy--a comedy of errors. The cost began to spiral in 1996--maybe before that, but that was the first time we really knew it. The Russians have had space stations up for almost 30 years. The Mir is the seventh space station that the Russians have had up since 1971. And what do they have to show for it? Absolutely nothing.…”