I believe the taxpayers' investment in NASA is generally well spent, and that I support increasing NASA's budget if we're assured American access to space.

The concern that I have is that the Administration did not propose offsets to account for the increase.

I had hoped that the Administration would have demonstrated leadership by proposing a realistic budget.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) represents a significant investment by the U.S. taxpayer and holds the promise of producing revolutionary science that one day may rewrite textbooks.

The commercial space industry will ensure that America remains a world leader in space exploration.

However, since 2011, the United States has depended entirely on Russia to transport our astronauts to the International Space Station.

Together, we will fix this, and in only a few more years we will be launching once again Americans, on American rockets, from American soil.

Mr. Gerstenmaier, we are currently paying Russia $76 million for a Soyuz seat to the ISS, which has historically increased nine percent per year.

We are working steadily, thoughtfully, and efficiently with NASA to yield the safest and most reliable astronaut transportation system that the world has ever seen.

It should be a top priority to launch American astronauts on American rockets from America soil as soon as is safely possible.

I truly believe that we can come together to address these concerns in a constructive, bipartisan way so that we can once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil.