By Bob Howell – WSFA 12 News Anchor, Montgomery, AL -

Here’s Alabama Senator Jeff Session’s response to President Obama’s budget proposals regarding NASA operations in the state:

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WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) made the following comments today regarding President Barack Obama’s proposal to cancel Constellation, the centerpiece of NASA’s manned space flight program:

            “The effect of President Obama’s proposal is that the United States would no longer be an international leader in space exploration. This regrettable and short-sighted decision appears to be motivated by a desire to allocate resources toward other programs, including climate change research and the advancement of the private space launch industry. 

“This ill-advised decision, which comes on the 7th anniversary of the sacrifice of the space shuttle Columbia crew, abandons our nation’s nearly five-decade commitment to human space flight and will likely result in NASA taking a back seat to China, Russia, and India in space exploration.     

“The president’s decision would not save money, as some will argue. Instead, as the budget documents make clear, it would merely transfer $300 million to climate change research and $1 billion to private companies. Over the past year, President Obama has spent billions of dollars in the name of economic recovery and a job creation bill, much of it to little effect. This proposal, however, would kill hundreds of highly skilled, well-paying jobs related to the space program. 

“The administration’s reliance on commercial vendors to launch, and safely return, Americans is untested, unproven, and very risky. Relying on a private company to start now, without the long history and formidable intellectual capital of NASA, will only increase costs and delay success. The better course is to continue to reinvest in NASA, and to produce, as scheduled, the Ares I and Ares V launch vehicles that were selected to replace the space shuttle.   

“In the end, the president’s budget is a proposal. Congress has the power of the purse, and I expect a long, difficult battle over the future of this critical program as the 2011 budget and appropriations process plays out.”

 “In our hearts, we are a nation of explorers. The grand endeavor of moving humans from the confines of earth to the heavens above represents the best of America’s ingenuity, innovation, and quest for knowledge. To abandon our decades-long exploration of space now would be a great tragedy. We are only in the nascent stages of that journey—there is so much more to see and learn.

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