Cliff Stearns: “I have heard some of these arguments. The problem is that this project is two-thirds complete in operation. We are not…”

“I have heard some of these arguments. The problem is that this project is two-thirds complete in operation. We are not talking about something like the super collider here where we are just starting it and then we killed it. Even then there were large termination fees. Here is a project that is two-thirds complete into the operation. Now, these folks keep talking about a $92 billion overrun. That is over 15 years. That is about $6 billion a year. This is a project that we are almost already about to see the light at the end of the tunnel, so I think we are too far along to consider terminating it. It may be $92 billion in overruns, however it turns out to be a very small number over the 15-year period. This amendment lost by 65 percent last year in the 104th Congress. I will bet that the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. Roemer] and everybody else in the House would love to win an election by 65 percent. The majority of people here in Congress believe this space program is a good project, yet time and time again the gentleman, Mr. Roemer brings this up. I will bet on the last day of the project the gentleman will bring up the fact that we have to shut this program down. Another thing is that we will not be able to shut this project down because of our agreements with many, many countries.…”