James Bridenstine actually said...

The Moon is our proving ground for the ultimate goal which, sir, you have identified as well, which is we are going to Mars.

Number one, you know, back then, if you look at real dollars, the budget of NASA was about $50 billion annually.

It is imperative that our national space program does not get bogged down on the Moon at the expense of reaching Mars.

I think there is broad bipartisan agreement that we need to understand what is happening to our planet.