David Weldon: “I believe the gentlewoman will agree my amendment is a good amendment. The bill on the floor of the House has a…”

“I believe the gentlewoman will agree my amendment is a good amendment. The bill on the floor of the House has a shortfall for NASA personnel funding. My amendment would avoid possible furloughs of NASA employees, which would adversely affect every NASA center and every NASA program by restoring all of the funding shortfall. It provides for full offsets so there is no impact to the budget. Specifically, my amendment increases funding for NASA program management by $81.5 million. It fully offsets the increase by decreasing funding in space science by $60 million, cutting $8.5 million from NASA's travel account, and cutting $13 million from various other accounts. Even with my amendment, the space science account... still receive a net increase of $250 million above NASA's fiscal year 1997 request. Many of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have referred to the need to fix the shortfall, and my amendment would do just that. I urge all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support my amendment.”