Eddie Bernice Johnson

In closing, I would like to dispel the myth that President Obama and the Democrats are mounting a war on fossil fuels.

The real reason we are here today is that it is an election year, and this hearing is another installment in the losing campaign to pin the Nation's escalating gasoline prices on President Obama.

I have little confidence that the discussion will stay within the bounds of the jurisdiction of this Committee today.

I hope it won't take two minutes, but I would like to request that both NASA's letters to CASIS and their response be given to the Committee for the record.

The ISS research budget is stagnating, and the agency's life and microgravity sciences budget has been cut deeply over the past decade.

The future is now in terms of utilizing this unique facility.

I hope that this Congress thinks twice before we embrace such cuts to an agency that is so important as NASA.

While the road to its completion has been a long one, with many twists and turns along the way, the Space Station stands as one of the engineering marvels of the modern age, and a testament to American ingenuity and perseverance.

I cannot stress enough the importance of accelerating this launch system to ensure we have an alternative method to transport people and cargo to ISS as well as to launch future missions beyond low Earth orbit.

Congress is going to need a lot more concrete justification than it has been given to date if we are to have confidence that the expenditures NASA is asking us to make would be money well spent.

Today might not be as smooth sailing as you would like.

It is difficult to lose a member of the Congressional Black Caucus family.

I rise to speak today about the loss of Congressman Donald Payne.

Thank you to my colleague from the Virgin Islands.

I do want to make it clear that it is one of several such analyses of the CES that should be considered.

Instead, unfortunately, this Congress seems content to put DOE in a corner and tell it to figure out how to do more with less.

We could recognize the role that truly fundamental discovery-driven research and large user facilities play in positioning the U.S. at the center of mankind's quest to better understand our universe.

I cannot help but lament the fact that we find ourselves in this position to begin with, and I feel that Congress has to accept its share of the blame.

I will be the first to say that, on balance, I am not particularly happy with this budget request.

I am not particularly happy with this budget request.

I was pleased to see that the funding request for ARPA-E represents a $75 million increase from fiscal year 2012.

This is a good budget for research, innovation, and education under our circumstances.

Without the detailed strategic plan to point to, I worry that these cuts lack sufficient justification.

I have questions about how the proposed cuts to the Mars science program will affect U.S. leadership and critical capability in landing and operating spacecraft on the surface of Mars.

I also worry that the proposal in the budget to close many of these small regional and national weather service offices will hamper communications with local authorities and increase the risk of the loss of life.