NASA Administrator Charles Bolden faced strong criticism of his proposed 2016 budget during a pair of congressional hearings in Washington April 16, including questions about the future of the agency's Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) program. At a hearing of the House Science space subcommittee on the morning of April 16, Bolden was forced to defend decisions in the agency's budget request to increase funding for commercial crew, Earth science and space technology, while decreasing funding for the Space Launch System and Orion programs compared with 2015. "The president's request regrettably changes agreed-upon national priorities," said House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas), who also criticized the administration for seeking a $519 million increase in NASA's budget without offering spending offsets elsewhere. "It is hard for Congress to consider this a serious proposal when it does not comply with the law and is not grounded in reality."
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