Tina Smith: “The article is about a proposal where 547 people would have to be laid off as of October 1, 1998. For the $15.5 million…”

“The article is about a proposal where 547 people would have to be laid off as of October 1, 1998. For the $15.5 million we are spending on Bion we could afford to pay each of these people $28,000. I am not saying necessarily that I advocate that, but I just want to point out how much money $15 million is. Every one of those people are going to lose their job. They could be paid $28,000 a year just from this project. It is obvious they do not all make under $28,000, but the point is, we are laying off American workers at the Kennedy Space Center while we send $15.5 million to Russia to conduct redundant and wasteful research, not to mention the pain that you inflict on animals for no purpose, no purpose whatsoever--no purpose. I am not an advocate of totally eliminating all research, but I think if you all remember the recent story about the gorilla who picked up a small child that had fallen into a gorilla cage, picked it up in its arms and gently carried it to the door of the zookeeper so that they could open the door and carry that child out to safety, it saved the child's life from other gorillas that may have hurt it when the child had fallen into the cage. These are animals. They have feelings. Why would you want to inflict this kind of pain for nothing? It is the same family. They are primates, gorillas and chimps or monkeys. Why would you want to inflict that pain for no reason--no reason? To find out what weightlessness is like in space on these animals for 14 days?”