Space News by Jeff Foust — November 1, 2019
The Senate passed a spending bill Oct. 31 that provides $22.75 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2020, but final agreement on funding for agency programs may still be weeks, if not months, away.
On an 84–9 vote, the Senate approved a so-called “minibus†appropriations bill that combined several separate measures, including the commerce, justice and science (CJS) bill that funds NASA, NOAA and the National Science Foundation, among other agencies. The minibus also included the transportation, housing and urban development bill, which funds the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
The final minibus included no major changes from the CJS bill that the Senate Appropriations Committee unanimously approved Sept. 26. That bill provided NASA with $22.75 billion, including most, but not all, of the $1.6 billion in additional funding for the Artemis lunar exploration program requested by the administration in a budget amendment in May.
“I’m especially pleased that this bill accelerates the goal of returning American astronauts to the moon and cements America’s leadership in space exploration,†Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), chairman of the CJS appropriations subcommittee, said in a statement marking the passage of the minibus.
More:
https://spacenews.com/senate-passes-nasa-appropriations-bill/
