Prometheus 6

I love the whole idea of NASA. Have loved it since the Gemini program. NASA is at least partly responsible for my reading habits (science fiction and science), the technology developed by NASA has literally changed the world for the better (and note, please, it was not and never would have been the product of a market-based effort).

But dammit, we should not still be getting surprises of this magnitude from this damned appropriations bill. It's frightening to think you can just write a paragraph funding a $16 billion dollar expenditure and

• It passes!
• Everyone is unaware it was in there
• Knowing it was added without consulting the rest of the world it will still be dealt with as valid

DeLay's Push Helps Deliver NASA Funds
By Guy Gugliotta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, December 6, 2004; Page A01

Without a separate vote or even a debate, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) has managed to deliver to a delighted NASA enough money to forge ahead on a plan that would reshape U.S. space policy for decades to come.

President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration," which would send humans to the moon and eventually to Mars, got a skeptical reception in January and was left for dead in midsummer, but it made a stunning last-minute comeback when DeLay delivered NASA's full $16.2 billion budget request as part of the omnibus $388 billion spending bill passed Nov. 20.