Pork threatens NASA plans: Congress' pet projects take $3 billion from budget

USA Today

Did you know that NASA must slash science, engineering and education programs to pay for billions of dollars in congressional pet projects, most of which have little to do with the agency's mission to explore space?  USA Today reports that the price tag for politicians' "pork" has grown so large that NASA may have to delay the new spaceships and rockets needed to replace the space shuttles, to be retired in 2010.

Since 2001, Congress has directed the space agency to spend more than $3 billion on special projects, most of them small endeavors sought by individual lawmakers for the benefit of their home districts, according to NASA and congressional records. Those home district projects include:

•Construction or renovation of dozens of museums, planetariums and science labs for colleges.

•Computers, classrooms and lab space for colleges and schools across the U.S.

•A website and laboratory for the Gulf of Maine Aquarium.

•A sprawling headquarters building for a non-profit research group in West Virginia created by U.S. Rep. Alan Mollohan. The Democrat is now subject of a broader congressional ethics probe. Read the full article here.

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