As a constituent, and in light of the Senate CJS committee beginning its work on the FY 2021 appropriation, I'm writing to ask you to support NASA's continued growth to $26 billion in FY 2021, this is 3% above the Presidential request.
The House, via H.R.7617, proposed to freeze funding for NASA at 2020 levels. I strongly disagree with this action.
By continuing to grow, NASA could pursue critical and ambitious programs that directly engage a broad range of the country's high-skilled manufacturing, technical, and scientific workforce. In particular, it would support:
* $3 billion for a human return to the lunar surface by the mid-2020s (as requested)
* $200 million for Planetary Defense, a $50 million increase above the request, to accelerate the NEO Surveillance Mission to find hazardous asteroids before they hit the Earth
* $3 billion for NASA's Planetary Science Division to maintain historic efforts to find life in our solar system
* $505 million for the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope (formerly WFIRST), the highest-priority astrophysics mission of this decade
* The continuation of all current Earth Science missions
The nation's aerospace supplier base and scientific workforce is struggling due to COVID-19. A modest increase to NASA's budget would ensure thousands of jobs could be saved, as more than 80% of NASA's budget is passed on to universities and small businesses throughout the nation.
This is a difficult time for the country. But space and scientific exploration is a nonpartisan, unifying effort. We can proudly work together to solve hard problems "out there" that benefit us at home.
I urge you to support the continued growth of our space program.
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