Senate reconciliation budget bill includes Cruz’s big spending additions to NASA
According to a tweet yesterday by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), the reconciliation budget bill that was passed by the Senate included the budget additions that Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had proposed to save SLS, Orion, and Lunar Gateway.
The graphic to the right lists these budget numbers. It is not clear whether the launch taxes on payloads that Cruz proposed were also included, though likely not based on the rules under which the reconciliation bill was passed.
This additional money for these projects contradicts directly the NASA 2026 budget proposal put forth by Trump that aimed to cancel Lunar Gateway and end SLS and Orion after only two more flights. Their existence in this passed Senate bill suggests that Congress is cool with the idea of spending this money and continuing these projects, even though they do nothing but waste taxpayer money and get us no where in space.
It also appears from the language in the graphic that the Senate is eager to also spend more money on NASA’s Mars sample return project, even though NASA itself still has no idea how to accomplish the task.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
According to a tweet yesterday by Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), the reconciliation budget bill that was passed by the Senate included the budget additions that Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) had proposed to save SLS, Orion, and Lunar Gateway.
The graphic to the right lists these budget numbers. It is not clear whether the launch taxes on payloads that Cruz proposed were also included, though likely not based on the rules under which the reconciliation bill was passed.
This additional money for these projects contradicts directly the NASA 2026 budget proposal put forth by Trump that aimed to cancel Lunar Gateway and end SLS and Orion after only two more flights. Their existence in this passed Senate bill suggests that Congress is cool with the idea of spending this money and continuing these projects, even though they do nothing but waste taxpayer money and get us no where in space.
It also appears from the language in the graphic that the Senate is eager to also spend more money on NASA’s Mars sample return project, even though NASA itself still has no idea how to accomplish the task.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The elephant in the room — sorry — is the ongoing spat between Elon Musk and President Trump, and the failure to excise funding for the SLS – Orion boondoggle from the latter’s “Big Budget-Busting Bill” may represent the most immediately visible fallout from this donnybrook. Indeed, it may now be Senator Cruz, and not Mr. Musk, who has the President’s ear with respect to how America will go forward (or not) as a space faring nation, and this could have truly catastrophic consequences*. The ultimate irony, of course, would be for the Trump Administration to do an about face and rescind the ongoing privatization of space on the basis of a personal feud, but history is replete with examples of such things. Beware pride, in any and all of its forms.
*While Senator Cruz may be, sort of, a “conservative,” his understanding of anything having to do with the logistics of space exploration is analogous to Zohran Mamdani’s knowledge of economics, budgeting, and governance, although I fear that I am probably insulting the latter by making this comparison.
Perhaps this is a topic for Robert to take up as a guest on tonight’s Coast to Coast. Again, this unfortunate falling out between Musk and Trump may have the worst possible consequences in terms of our future in space, but nobody seems to be talking much about it.
Milt: We discussed this topic at length last night on the Space Show.
Meanwhile, we learned today that it’s even worse than you think ….according to GAO’s NASA: Assessments of Major Projects:
“Most major NASA projects since GAO’s first assessment in 2009 have avoided significant cost overruns. GAO found that of the 53 major projects that have completed development or are currently in the final phase of development, 30 remained under the statutory threshold for reporting cost overruns. Specifically, these 30 project’s development costs did not exceed their baselined cost estimates by 15 percent or more. When a project’s overrun rises to this threshold, NASA is required to take certain steps. For example, it must notify congressional committees of the overrun and update the project’s cost or schedule plans. At the same time, Artemis and Artemis-related cost overruns are an increasing proportion of the portfolio’s overall overruns. Three Artemis projects account for nearly $7 billion of the total overruns—or almost half of the overruns collectively experienced by the 53 projects.”
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Thanks a lot, Ted. Now we’ll get even more of this.
With Elon pouting about not getting EV contracts money, Trump might side with SLS for that reason alone— that and it being a Red State rocket made by folks who actually know how to build rocket cores that don’t tumble–that’s GOOD for America.
Space advocates trashing SLS and or MSR attracted the gaze of cost cutters–who wound up doing the opposite of what you wanted… now science is the victim.
Hillhouse at America Space was right–OldSpace and NewSpace should have hung together–now they’ll hang apart.
I would have thought Cruz would have been more amenable to SpaceX.
That needs looking into.
Trump and Musk falling out I understand.
Cruz and Elon have words?
Cruz must be hunting for something bigger than his own re election.
He is tossing that out right now. Texas citizens on the whole do not care about space. Its a point of pride but that is all.
Musk is acting like an addict on the way off his choice of drug. I hope his doctors hold him together.
I worry about Elon.
Trump might be the first person whoever told him “no.”
Elon wanted more cuts to social programs than Donald did–while wanting EV contracts.
Trump wasn’t about to go that far as it would damage the GOP brand even further. The DNC is led by idiots–but a Tester/Ro Khanna ticket might change things…
I don’t like electric cars–they are hard to put out when burning.
I think what would do Elon good is just to table Starship now. To heck with Artemis. Spend some money on that neutral hexanitrogen development and modify Starship later.
I think Elon needs to spend about six months with Warren Buffett…listen to his stories. Stay around older men.
When he returns to Boca, he should have a greater grasp on life’s little lessons.
Falcon may be his biggest achievement…no need to taint that by going all Richard Daystrom/M-5 on us.
Besides toenails, what do most remember about Howard Hughes?
Not the philanthropy, not the medical endowments.
The Big Beautiful Bill is a monstrosity, but buried in it are the tools Trump needs to drain the swamp.
Exciting things are about to happen.
As Robert observed last night about Elon Musk and President Trump, “both have valid positions… but they’re acting like toddlers.” Toddlers with egos the size of aircraft carriers. And between them, at least for the present, they will shape America’s future in space.
I think that Jeff Wright has it just about right. Mr Musk needs to get his “stuff” together and think about life lessons, etc. He might also want to spend some time with Jordan Peterson along with Warren Buffett.
It’s ironic, isn’t it, that the deployment of our highest technology in the course of opening up the space frontier appears to be directed from what amounts to the limbic / reptile parts of our leaders’ brains. Nothing new here, of course. Cf, what’s going on in the Middle East and in Ukraine.
Jeff Wright wrote: “I don’t like electric cars–they are hard to put out when burning.”
It is a good thing that gasoline cars never leak while burning, because the gas would spread all over the place, spreading flames and fire everywhere.
“I think what would do Elon good is just to table Starship now. To heck with Artemis. Spend some money on that neutral hexanitrogen development and modify Starship later.”
Alternatively, SpaceX could develop Starship now and get good things done while neutral haxanitrogen is being developed into something useful. Just think how backward we would be if we were still waiting for the best and most perfect technology to be developed before we did anything. We still would not be using fire or wheels as we waited for even better tech to come along.
“Besides toenails, what do most remember about Howard Hughes? Not the philanthropy, not the medical endowments.”
TWA? The Lockheed Constellation is still big in the cultural memory. Standing up to an abusive Congress.
Apparently, philanthropy does not turn into legacies. A good point, and one we all should learn from. Advancing technology for improving lifestyles is more memorable than merely directly helping individual people maintain their lifestyles.