Time Is Not On The Side Of Congress For NASA Authorization Bills

Now that the 114th Congress draws to a close, many space-related bills seeking passage, together with NASA authorization bill, are in great danger of running out of time. The top priority for the Congress is a passage of a still continuing resolution (CR) to be able to fund the federal government.

The CR is presently funding government agencies at the fiscal year of 2016 levels that expired on Dec. 9. Appropriators are expected to introduce a brand new CR on Dec. 6 that will continue funding the goverment in 2017, according to Space.com.

Originally, the new CR would extend through March; however, several congressional leaders stated last Monday that it might run through April, giving the Congress a longer period of time to finalize revised spending bills that take into consideration priorities of the incoming Trump administration. The new CR, may not be that surprising, may be a blow to some in Congress who had hoped to finalize the fiscal year of 2017 spending bills throughout the post-election official session, Yahoo reported.

In a Nov. 29 speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) who is the ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and is also the highest Democrat on the appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA, stated that she is disappointed and she thinks that it should not be this way. The senator is retiring this year.

The Congress is anticipated to adjourn after the passage of the CR, the last "must pass" bill of this Congress, to be submitted by the end of the week. That provides proponents of many space-related bills still unfinished approval with a little time to win the passage.

Among them is the long-awaited NASA authorization bill. Negotiations are in process for weeks on a revised version of the said authorization bill, the NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2016, which the Senate Commerce Committee approved on Sep. 21.