House Presents Draft of NASA FY 2014 Budget

The House Commerce, Justice, & Science Appropriations Subcommittee released its FY 2014 budget draft, HR–113, sans markups; markup is scheduled for today, July 10. The House Appropriations Subcommittee’s counterpart in the Senate, chaired by Barbara Mikulski, has not yet released a draft budget. The House Subcommittee’s draft of NASA’s FY 2014 budget[1] is in Title III, beginning on page 57.

Program FY12 Budget FY13 Budget White House H.R. 933
Science $5,090.0 $5,144.0 $5,017.8 $4,781.0
Aeronautics $569.0 $570.0 $565.7 $566.0
Space Technology $575.0 $642.0 $742.6 $576.0
Exploration $4,152.0 $3,770.8 $3,915.5 $3,612.0
Orion $1,200.0 $1,200.3 $1,026.8 $1,050.0
SLS $1,860.0 $2,119.4 $1,384.9 $1,775.0
SLS Construction $1,454.2 $1,339.8 $1,476.0
Commercial Space Flight $406.0 $525.0 $821.4
Space Operations $4,233.6 $3,953.0 3,882.9 $3,670.0
Education $138.4 $125.0 $94.2 $122
Cross-Agency Support $2,995.0 $2,823.0 $2,850.3 $2,711.0
Inspector General $37.3 $38.0 $38.2 $35.3

 

The SLS program faces a proposed cut of $344.4 million from its FY 2013 appropriated amount of $2,119.4 million. The White House had proposed cutting the program by $734.5 million, which wasn’t surprising given the White House’s past opposition to the Space Launch System program.

The Orion program also faces a proposed budget cut of $150.3 million, but that stands in contrast to the White House’s proposed cut of $173.5 million.

The House budgeters didn’t include a budget for Commercial Crew or specifically its CCiCap program. After deducting amounts for the SLS and Orion programs, only $787 million remains in the Exploration budget. That amount must fund not only Commercial Crew, but other obligations within Exploration such as Ground Systems and Construction.

AmericaSpace will provide updates as the budget drafts of both the House and Senate percolate and brew. Stay tuned …


  1. The full text of H.R. 113 can be downloaded as a PDF.  ↩

2 Comments

  1. My jaw clenched in anger, after reading about the proposed cuts to the SLS.

    I really don’t want to politicize the discussion, since I’m not even a US citizen, and I don’t know much about US politics, but what’s with all these infuriating anti-space policies of the last couple of years? First, Constellation is cancelled, then proposed cuts to NASA’s planetary science funds, proposed cuts for NASA Education and Outreach programs, and now proposed cuts for SLS/Orion?

    Does the US have a death wish or something?

    I’m really sorry If I sound irritated, but I can’t help it when I see things like these.

    • This is what a number of NewSpace advocates keep harping on – Space is, by a large amount of the populace, not seen as a priority. Its not something we necessarily want, but its not something that people will come out and fight for (as opposed to issues like abortion, or education).

      Additionally, whether we like it or not, the partisanship over spending has gotten very heated (that was on display during today’s markup in so many ways). Between the debate about spending and taxes – its going to get pretty tight. And 3rd tier issues, like space, will get hurt.

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