Political Quotes

“I support the intent of the amendment. I can't support the offset. It comes out of the general exploration account of NASA, but it would put additional strains on programs like Commercial Crew and Commercial Cargo, which are very, very important--not just because we have to depend on the Russians at the moment to take astronauts to the space station, this was put in place years ago--but given the political circumstances, and the chairman is right, there have been threats to whether or not we will have access to transport. We do have to think about accelerating our Commercial Crew Program. It has been very successful to date, in terms of cargo, but we have not utilized the commercial cargo system yet to actually put human beings into lower Earth orbit on private spaceships like SpaceX or Orbital Science, so it is a concern now that this offset would be used. So I think what I am saying is that I hope the gentleman will consider the fact that we will look at this issue in conference and try to find other ways to do it, but I cannot support this offset. It would not be a responsible thing for us to do, given where we are. I yield back the balance of my time. {time} 2045 The CHAIR. The question is on the amendment offered by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr, Kildee). The amendment was rejected. The CHAIR. The Clerk will read.…”