ARLINGTON, Va., July 13 (UPI) -- The Aerospace Industries Association is concerned over cuts to budgets for space and weather agencies in a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations bill.
"We recognize that tough economic times call for tough choices," said AIA President Marion C. Blakey. "However, cutting NASA and NOAA deeply threatens American leadership in space and impairs our ability to make life-saving weather predictions."
The cuts are the work of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science for fiscal year 2012.
The subcommittee's markup cuts the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's space programs by 10 percent from U.S. President Barak Obama's request and nearly 13 percent from the NASA authorization passed last October.
AIA said it acknowledges that many NASA mission areas were adequately supported -- but some suffered draconian cuts. Given the current fiscal environment, AIA said the $18.7 billion in funding proposed by the president provides the minimum required for these programs.
"AIA supports appropriations reflecting the policy priorities of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 as closely as possible and opposes the termination of programs contrary to the priorities of the Authorization Act," it said.
In the markup, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration would get $1 billion less than the president's request, an 18 percent cut.
"Our public safety, national security and economic recovery argues for fully funding NOAA to get observing programs back on track and mitigate any loss in coverage due to aging systems," AIA said.
