Duncan Hunter: “So you all recognize the mission. You write about the Arctic, but really don't have any way to get up there and do…”

But they also cut another $700 million past that, and that was mostly going toward shoreside infrastructure?

The 2013 National Space Transportation Policy calls for the use of U.S. rockets for U.S. government payloads, with some minor exceptions that perhaps should be revisited anyway.

How can you possibly stay on track with that kind of a cut?

The U.S. currently has a competitive space launch industry, yet NASA payloads continue to fly on foreign launch vehicles.