Tom Feeney is Fighting to Sustain the Vitality of Kennedy Space Center and Continue America's Space Predominance

I'm pleased to inform you about my recent appointment to the GOP's top spot on the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee. I will lead Republican efforts on that subcommittee and work with Chairman Mark Udall (D-CO) to continue America's space predominance.

My top priorities are to promote America's Vision for Space Exploration and to sustain the vitality of all NASA centers including the Kennedy Space Center. NASA should continue its progress in returning the Space Shuttle to regular flight, completing the International Space Station, and developing the Constellation Program -- the Shuttle's successor.

As NASA transitions from the Shuttle to Constellation programs, we must preserve the talents and capabilities of America's human spaceflight workforce. I will fight to have Congress fully fund NASA's budget request so the gap between the Shuttle's last flight and Constellation's first operational flight is as short as possible. Please see the enclosed Florida Today guest column on the importance of fully funding NASA.

America's space and aviation endeavors must remain second-to-none. Space is vital to our national security and for sustaining economic growth. While we welcome all countries in the peaceful uses of space, America will continue to protect and defend its space-based military and commercial resources from any challenges posed by hostile countries.

www.floridatoday.com

March 25, 2007

Human spaceflight at the crossroads
Readers

U.S. REP. TOM FEENEY, GUEST COLUMNIST

The shuttle Columbia accident forced policymakers to halt the drift in NASA's human spaceflight program and craft a coherent strategy for continuing American leadership as a spacefaring nation.

Now, the Columbia crew's legacy is threatened.

The Columbia Accident Investigation Board went beyond identifying the accident's technical cause and spoke simple truths -- NASA needed a new strategy and new spacecraft for human spaceflight.

Washington responded.

The president proposed and Congress ratified America's Vision for Space Exploration, under which the shuttle returned to flight, the International Space Station was to be completed, and a new spacecraft developed to take Americans beyond low Earth orbit.

Under NASA Administrator Mike Griffin's leadership, the shuttle now flies, the International Space Station is being built, and the architecture for the shuttle's replacement -- the manned Orion spacecraft and its related Ares launch vehicle -- is complete.

Now, this progress is jeopardized because elements of the new Congressional majority threaten to choke off funding for development, testing, and production of Orion and Ares.

Earlier this year, the new Congressional leadership crafted in relative secrecy an omnibus appropriations bill for fiscal year 2007. NASA -- especially human spaceflight -- came in their gun sights with the president's request cut by $545 million.

Human spaceflight bore the brunt of this cut and then some.

Exploration Systems, which funds the development of Orion and Ares, was cut $576 million from the president's request. The shuttle and International Space Station programs received a corresponding $94 million cut.

For this and many other reasons, I voted against this bill.

The new Congressional majority can't impose these cuts without repercussions. The gap between the shuttle's last flight and Orion's first operational flight will be extended by six months and into March 2015.

For over four years, the world's only superpower will be unable to put astronauts into space except by purchasing access from the Russians. Meanwhile, China will aggressively develop its spaceflight capabilities and challenge America's space preeminence.

With that damage done, the focus now shifts to NASA's fiscal year 2008 budget request. The president has requested $17.3 billion for NASA, of which $3.9 billion is allocated to exploration systems.

This year's fight is to preserve that request.

If this Congress again cuts the president's request, America's human spaceflight program will return to those terrible dark years between the end of the Apollo program and the first space shuttle launch.

We will be grounded for over seven years. Orion's first flight will be delayed to at least 2017 and thousands of the Space Coast's workforce will disappear.

So a critical test awaits.

The Space Coast's House of Representatives delegation -- fellow Rep. Dave Weldon of Indialantic and I -- will keep our eyes on the prize. But will human spaceflight receive bipartisan support from a House majority leadership seemingly determined to ground the program?

Florida must increasingly turn to the Senate to protect NASA's future. Remind Senators Bill Nelson and Mel Martinez about this year's challenge.

Champions of human spaceflight must focus on this single funding issue. If you -- like Columbia's crew -- cherish America's human spaceflight program, accept nothing less.

Feeney, R-Oviedo, represents Florida's 24th District in Congress, which includes NASA's Kennedy Space Center.

Energy: Help Move America Away from Foreign Sources of Energy

I am supportive of legislation that will help move America away from foreign sources of energy. Renewable fuels will play a key role in this effort and I support the increased use of renewable sources of energy including wind, solar, bio-mass, and bio-diesel. In that vein, I also support new technologies that can be used to improve existing energy sources like nuclear, ethanol, hydrogen, and coal. The potential of these fuels requires that Congress be supportive of further research and development to improve those fuel technologies.

This issue is critically important to the future of our nation. I am confident the United States can confront climate change, cure its addiction to foreign oil, protect national security, and maintain economic superiority at the same time and I will work hard to make this reality.