An Ill-considered Markup

摘要

Space programs took a beating for no apparent reason in a 2012 defense spending bill drafted by House appropriators in June. Nobody expected space — or any other procurement area—to emerge unscathed in the current budgetary environment, and to be sure, the U.S. Defense Department doesn't always adequately justify its funding requests. But at a time of instability and angst throughout the space industry, members of the House Appropriations Committee could at least have given some indication that they had carefully thought through their funding recommendations.