The White House has announced that Obama will hold a press conference on April 15th at the Kennedy Space Center to discuss the future of NASA. Then we'll know how one of the largest kickbacks in the health care reform bill will pay out. During the ObamaCare debate, Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, Democrat of Florida, met with the president and demanded more funding for the Kennedy Space Center which is in her district. It was never revealed whether Obama cut a deal, but Kosmas voted yes last night. The president's current budget only provides cash-strapped NASA with $19 billion for KSC, which is slated to lose 9,000 jobs this year.
Kosmas may be politically damned regardless of what she did. One of her Republican challengers, Craig Miller, has already accused Kosmas of being "bought off in some way." Floridians might revolt over Kosmas' selling of her vote the same way Nebraskans were outraged over the Cornhusker Kickback, even though it benefited their state.
Either way the president can't be expecting a warm reception at the press conference. Obama has targeted NASA for huge budget cuts, including axing the Constellation and Ares rocket programs altogether. Privately, one senior administration official scoffed, "We certainly don't need to go back to the moon." Needless to say, American exceptionalism and exploration have never played well with the president. The space community isn't happy with the president lately. As a blogger for Discover magazine chided, "[S]pace exploration is important. I find it difficult to believe Obama doesn’t know that."
Meanwhile Obama also may be planning to foist an inexperienced new NASA Administrator on them. Word last week was that, in exchange for his vote on health care, the president promised Rep. Bart Gordon the head NASA position. Gordon ultimately voted yes. He has no space experience whatsoever, other than serving on the House Committee on Technology and Science.
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