Washington, DC—Today, Congressman Al Green (TX-9) voted in support the NASA Authorization Act (HR 3070) to advance a new vision for space exploration. Green serves as a member of the House Science Committee, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.

“This bill provides focus and direction not only to accomplish the important mission of manned space exploration but also to bolster resources for other critical research programs. It advances NASA’s mission and goes a long way towards achieving balanced, feasible priorities,” Green said.

The bi-partisan measure, HR 3070, directs NASA to send a manned repair mission to the Hubble telescope after the next trip of the space shuttle. The bill sets a goal of sending Americans to the moon again by 2020, and endorses President Bush’s proposal to send a manned mission to Mars. In addition, the bill does not specify a date for retiring the space shuttle, as requested by the administration.

Green’s Ninth Congressional District is home to many Johnson Space Center employees, making his voice on the Committee a vital one. The Science Committee, which maintains sole jurisdiction over the NASA authorization, completed consideration of the bill last week.

Congressman Green spoke in support of an amendment offered by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee which would restore funding for Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) and Hispanic Serving Institutions (HIS’s) under NASA’s education programs. More specifically, the amendment would provide $69.2 million for HBCU’s and $46.4 for HIS’s.

Below are excerpts from Congressman Green’s floor speech and Jackson Lee’s amendment.

“Mr. Chairman, I’d like to start by thanking Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee for her dynamic leadership on this issue. She has taken the bull by the horns and has done yeoman’s work. I’d also like to thank Chairman Boehlert and Ranking Member Gordon because they have really demonstrated how by bipartisanship can efficaciously cause us to reach a consensus that will cause great things to happen in the United States Congress.

“Mr. Chairman, I want to make note that these institutions are not black and brown institutions. This is important because these institutions serve a multiplicity of ethnicities; they are the epitome of diversity; and they are dearly needed because of the people that they serve.

“They don’t always get the children of the best and the brightest; they many times will get the children of the least, the last, and the lost. They literally take the essence of mental clay and mold it into the quintessential manifestation of intellectual cloisonné.

“They are providing the bootstraps that we need in this society so that we can have good productive citizens who will pay taxes and will become part of the mainstream that we so desire.”