“What Washington needs is a long-term plan to control spending,” says Congressman Bill Posey. Bill Posey’s idea of controlling spending was revealed this week when he introduced H.R. 2036, legislation that would begin a new program at NASA to send spaceships back to the Moon in order to establish a permanent human settlement there.
People who advocate human space travel often like to cite lofty goals, such as expanding our understanding of our place in the universe, but it looks like more earthbound motivations have led to the creation of H.R. 2036. Bill Posey represents the congressional district in Florida that includes Cape Canaveral, the local economy of which is dominated by NASA.
The cosponsors of H.R. 2036 are Sheila Jackson Lee, Brian Babin, and Rob Bishop. Jackson Lee and Babin represent parts of Houston, where NASA has a huge operations center. Rob Bishop represents a district in Utah, where heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket boosters for NASA are manufactured and tested.
There isn’t a single supporter of H.R. 2036’s plan to establish a permanent Moon base who doesn’t come from a congressional district that receives significant economic benefit from NASA operations.
Sending human beings to live permanently on the Moon to bring pork barrel to a few local economies here down on Earth may be smart politics for a few members of Congress, but lofty it isn’t.
