David Weldon: “The Space Station is in orbit. We have research going on up there right now. As we all know, NASA recently recorded…”

“The Space Station is in orbit. We have research going on up there right now. As we all know, NASA recently recorded significant cost overruns. The administration responded appropriately by canceling three elements. I think there are some serious problems with the proposal the administration has put forward. I certainly agree with the sentiment of the gentleman from California (Mr. Rohrabacher) that we need to work with our European allies to see if we can get at least the crew return vehicle and the module built. The proposal the gentleman from Indiana is putting forward essentially says we have to stay within the cap, and we already have a cap, but we have to go ahead and build all those elements. That is like your spouse comes home and says, Honey, we are over budget. We cannot screen in the porch and buy that new car. Then you were to respond, we are going to stay on budget and we are going to screen in the porch and buy that new car. Your spouse might turn to you and scratch her head and say, Gee, honey, how the heck are we going to do that? This is in many ways a very clever amendment, but it is a totally unworkable amendment. I believe it is just another attempt to try to kill the Space Station program. I would strongly encourage all my colleagues to vote against the amendment.”