Tom Feeney: “I rise to thank Chairman Boehlert and Chairman Calvert and the respective ranking and minority Members. We will recall…”

“I rise to thank Chairman Boehlert and Chairman Calvert and the respective ranking and minority Members. We will recall in the aftermath of the Columbia accident, many of us on Capitol Hill and the space community observed the drift. America's human space program seemed to be adrift in terms of our space flight initiative and vision. The President responded with his vision which has now become America's vision. The conference bill and the report provides unambiguous and bipartisan endorsement of America's Vision for Space Exploration. The direction of human space flight has now been set for future administrations and congresses. I look forward to progressing on this ambitious journey of exploration and science. As we do move forward, Mr. Speaker, I hope we take to heart the Columbia accident investigation board's reminder and admonition that NASA ``is an organization straining to do too much with too little.'' As we work to provide NASA with a focused mission, including but not limited to human space flight, we need to avoid overloading and micromanaging this agency and its fine leader, Mr. Griffin. With that, I thank the chairman for the time.”