Subcommittee Stops Human Mars Mission Spending

An anonymous reader writes "Last week's House Appropriations Subcommittee for Commerce, Justice, and Science FY08 budget markup would prevent work on programs devoted to human missions to Mars. According to a House Appropriations Committee press release, the markup language states that NASA cannot pursue "development or demonstration activity related exclusively to Human Exploration of Mars. NASA has too much on its plate already, and the President is welcome to include adequate funding for the Human Mars Initiative in a budget amendment or subsequent year funding requests." The Mars Society is already leading an effort to get the language removed."

Comments

Re:Yeay!

[ArcherB]

HERE are some fine examples of other programs that could be cut to fund NASA. They are listed by state, amount, and program. Also, keep in mind that this is just a few examples, only for the 2006 budget, and many, if not all of these are just the annual budgets. In other words, this is spent every year:

WA $359,000Organic cropping (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Special Research Grants)

MO $987,000National Center for Soybean Technology (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Special Research Grants)

VT $750,000Environmentally safe products (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Special Research Grants)

CA $1,929,000Exotic pest diseases (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Special Research Grants)

I $2,500,000For the Great Lakes Basin Program for Soil and Erosion Control (Conservation Programs)

IA $1,775,000Iowa Biotechnology Consortium (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Special Research Grants)

MD $3,625,000Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (Agricultural Research Service, Buildings and Facilities)

NY $3,625,000Center for Grape Genetics (Agricultural Research Service, Buildings and Facilities)

TX $546,000Hispanic Leadership in Agriculture (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Federal Administration)

MS $1,433,000Mississippi Valley State University, Curriculum Development (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Federal Administration)

MI $1,350,000Pasteurization of shell eggs (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Federal Administration)

CA $3,625,000Grape Genomics Research Center (Agricultural Research Service, Buildings and Facilities)

WI $8,000,000Nutrient Management Laboratory (Agricultural Research Service, Buildings and Facilities)

$18,000,000Facilities in rural communities with extreme unemployment (Rural Community Advancement Program)

$18,250,000Technical assistance grants for rural water and waste systems (Rural Community Advancement Program)

AK $25,000,000Rural and native villages in Alaska (Rural Community Advancement Program)

MD $6,000,000Chesapeake Bay activities (Conservation Programs)

OH $1,145,000Center for Innovative Food Technology (Cooperative State Research, Education, and Extension Service, Research and Education Activities - Federal Administration)