ORLANDO, Fla. — More than 40 California congressmen have called on the White House to reverse NASA’s cuts to the Mars Sample Return (MSR) program, warning of job losses and a “decade of science lost.”
February 1 letter According to Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, this marks an escalation of the situation. an earlier request from many of the same members in November to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to reverse a spending slowdown in the MSR caused by FY 2024 appropriations uncertainty.
The letter was led by Representatives Judy Chu (D-Calif.) and Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), with 41 other members of California’s congressional delegation signing it. . MSR’s main center, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is in California.
NASA officials said in November that it would “begin to scale back its activities” related to the MSR because of differences in spending bills. A House appropriations bill provides the agency’s entire $949.3 million request for MSR, but its Senate counterpart only includes $300 million.
NASA, like the rest of the federal government, operates under a continuing resolution (CR) that funds the agency at 2023 levels, which for the MSR is $822.3 million. NASA said the reduction in MSR spending was necessary because of concerns that, if the Senate bill passed, the MSR could lack funding for 2024 if it spent at the higher 2023 rate for several months .
In the letter, the members of Congress rejected this argument. “This short-sighted and misguided decision will cost hundreds of jobs and a decade of lost science, and it flies in the face of Congressional authority,” they wrote.
Congress has not yet finalized a spending package for all of 2024, but has made progress in recent weeks, such as providing allocations to the 12 appropriations subcommittees so they know how much money they have. The CR which funds NASA runs until March 8.
The letter hints at progress in resolving the difference between House and Senate funding levels for MSR. “While we are extremely concerned that the Senate Commerce, Justice, and Science appropriations bill only proposes $300 million for the program in FY 2024, House Committee leadership “House Appropriations continue to work closely with their Senate colleagues on a compromise position,” he said. States.
If the current cuts are not reversed, the letter warns, “this decision would ensure that JPL will not be able to meet the next launch window and will result in the cancellation of billions of dollars in contracts as well as the layoffs of hundreds of workers.” ‘highly qualified employees’. employees.”
The cuts have already had effects at JPL. The center laid off 100 contractors in early January, most of whom were involved in the MSR. JPL cited uncertainty over the 2024 budget as one of the main reasons for layoffs and other cost-cutting efforts.
“We have received instructions from NASA to plan for the lower level and we are doing it systematically,” JPL Director Laurie Leshin said in a Jan. 8 interview. “So the first thing is to look at where we’re bringing in on-site contractors for MSR, but also other locations, where JPLs could replace that.” Those layoffs could extend to full-time staff, she added, if MSR funding comes closer to the figure outlined in the Senate bill.
An additional level of uncertainty is the agency’s ongoing reevaluation of the overall MSR architecture, prompted by an independent review that found the current MSR approach is behind schedule and over budget. This effort is expected to be completed in March.
“It is our understanding that the modified mission architecture would simplify the program and reduce annual costs, thereby addressing concerns expressed regarding MSR in the FY 2024 Senate appropriations bill,” the letter states. NASA has not publicly disclosed any details about possible alternative mission architectures.
