The House Science Committee approved a controversial NASA authorization bill April 30 on a party-line vote. The bill, HR 2039, would trim hundreds of millions of dollars from Earth sciences and a lesser amount from space technology, and authorize more funding for the Space Launch System, Orion, and planetary science than NASA says it needs. The committee passed the bill after two hours of debate where Democrats introduced amendments to undo the Earth sciences cuts, which the committee rejected along party lines. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden criticized the bill in a statement, saying it "guts our Earth science program."
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