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Washington, D.C., August 10 - Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO John W. Douglass today urged Congress to support the Bush Administration’s proposed FY 2005 budget for NASA. He expressed concern that reductions to the $16.2 billion agency plan will jeopardize the nation’s new Vision for Space Exploration announced on January 14, 2004, as well as aeronautics research and development. As a result of recent action by the House Appropriations Committee, NASA faces a reduction of approximately $1.1 billion below the President’s request. Furthermore, additional safety improvements to the Shuttle fleet will require expenditures between $350 million and $650 million beyond the FY05 level of recommended funding. Because NASA plans to close this shortfall through internal budget re-allocations, the agency will have approximately $2 billion less for space and aeronautics programs than proposed by the President. In urging the Congress to support the President’s 2005 budget request, Douglass said, "There is no question that America must adequately fund both aeronautics and the nation’s new Vision for Space Exploration.” Recalling that in its five-year R&D plan AIA called for NASA to receive an additional $34 billion, Douglass added, “The bottom line is that the U.S. space program is already underfunded in its first year of implementing the new national space vision. If the money requested by the President is not restored, NASA will be forced once again into an internal financial crisis that will undermine our national goals.” AIA will work with Congress and NASA to ensure adequate funding for the critical agency missions of safely returning the Shuttle to flight and bolstering recommendations by the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry to transform the U.S. air transportation system.
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Contact: Alexis Allen, AIA |
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