Ted Cruz Distorts NASA's Mission, Budget

You know I was always iffy about the Goldman Sachs golden boy but after reading this article i see where his priorities lye...

The following post first appeared on FactCheck.org.

During his critique of NASA’s spending on earth and atmospheric sciences at a recent committee hearing, Sen. Ted Cruz made some misleading claims regarding the agency’s budgets and the science that it conducts.

Cruz said there has been a “disproportionate increase” since 2009 in funding of earth sciences. There has been an increase — and it is larger than some other NASA areas — but spending on earth sciences is lower now as a percentage of NASA’s budget than it was in fiscal 2000. And the increase reflects an effort to restore funding that had been cut.
Cruz also suggested that the “core mission” of NASA does not include earth sciences. In fact, studying the Earth and atmosphere has been central to NASA’s mission since its creation in 1958.
In criticizing NASA’s spending on earth sciences, Cruz also said the agency needs to “get back to the hard sciences” — meaning space exploration and not earth and atmospheric research. The term “hard sciences” refers to fields including physics and chemistry, which are central to the research being done as part of NASA’s earth science programs.
Budget Priorities

Cruz, a potential 2016 presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness, held a March 12 hearing on the fiscal year 2016 budget request for NASA. During the hearing, he said that the agency spends too much money and effort on earth sciences.

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It really seems that Ted Cruz is in the pocket of big oil corporations and those trying to debunk any valid science on Climate change.

He's not calling NASA liars, but he wants them to stop studying the earth.

So that brings up the most important questions You either think that NASA is lying about climate change and global warming or you don't. If you think that NASA is lying about their climate data, then you should say it out loud and not beat around the bush. Also, if NASA is lying about climate change data then we can't trust them on anything. Right?

But, as a US citizen, I find it cowardly that, Cruz didn't take that route. He'd rather we just not have any climate data. How retarded is that?

Open Letter to Ted Cruz:
Senator, greetings. I hear that a private group is recruiting people to go to Mars (alas, it's a one-way trip) and, as a powerful Senate Committee chairman concerned with science and space and other unimportant things, I bet you can fuss and finagle your way onto that ship. Seriously, I bet you can! Go for it Senator, and as the ship lifts you away from Earth forever give a glance back at the Earth's atmosphere, and say a prayer or two that it can survive, just a little longer, the likes of you.

Its Cruz smiling as he watches his stupid fat pockets grow we should be investigating our earth that's one budget that shouldn't be touched!!! reply to: amazing

Its truly sad sir thats why i have always supported term limits! !! reply to: Aleister

I'm confused as to who is the bigger idiot Cruz or the people who put him on the Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness? He has no place being anywhere near the funding of NASA.

NASA got caught with their hands in the political cookie jar.

This is how they get slapped.

Teddie-Boy's paying the party back what he owes them in a first step towards getting back in their good graces.

Cut deep into the veins of science and open the gates to the war machines!!!a reply to: Snarl

a reply to: ATF1886

I doubt that any amongst the august membership of this website, would be at all surprised by this turn of events. Cruz was always going to be a useless or dangerous component when he was added to the machinery which oversees NASA. Personally, I hope he gets consumed by a cloud of acidic gas, that NASA would have told him about, if they had been allowed to continue their earth science research!

I mean for goodness sake! Most of what we know about other planets, comes from a combination of how well we can observe them, and how we compare them to our own world! Our planet is the original frame of reference which allows us to understand geological structure on other worlds, atmospheric research here on our planet allows us to better understand the whirling storms of Jupiter, and study of our oceans can lead researchers to better understand the possibilities presented by what lies beneath the icy surfaces of cold moons like Europa... Knowledge of our own planetary processes, is what leads to better understanding of those of other worlds, the better to allow their future exploration!

Cruz is a nitwit. If I could arm wrestle with my brain, I could rip his arm off and feed it to him with barely a flick of a neuron or two, and I would not trust myself with the responsibility he has. One gets the impression, that the man is only capable of enough hubris to take the jobs he has in government, because he is too ignorant of his own shortcomings to understand how idiotic it is for him to be offered these positions in the first place!

I smiled thank you it seems that instead of putting someone in charge that would protect NASA they put a guy in charge that wouldnt know his A-hole from a hole in the wall im surprised at the lack of intelligence in t he US these days... a reply to: TrueBrit

Looks like NASA and any other "scientific" group is going to have to actually prove their cases from now on !!

“Looks like NASA and any other "scientific" group is going to have to actually prove their cases from now on !!”


NASA has proven it’s case a million times over. You can’t count the ways we’ve benefited from technology developed by NASA as a result of their programs. Where the hell have you been?

Just shows what a short-sighted, self-serving, corporate-minded individual Cruz is. His pockets are lined by the fossil fuel industry, and so he puts their interests, which are his interests, above the best interests of the nation and it’s people. He represents only himself, and not We the People. He doesn’t deserve the distinction of being a US Senator, and is an insult to the dignity of the office.

What a shame and embarrassment it is to have people like Cruz and Inhofe as chairmen over committees involving science and the environment. Neither one has a science-related degree, and it clearly shows from the things they say. The Senate is littered with buffoons like these two, all the way up to the current majority leader/political hack, Mitch McConnell. When you have the Ayatollah Khomeini lecturing the US Senate on the letter of the US Constitution, it may be time to reassess things.

NASA has always contributed to, and enhanced, our lives in countless ways. Their service to this country is grossly undervalued, and their budget reflects it. I just hope Cruz doesn’t further damage their ability to do good science. I think our future survival depends on organizations like NASA. It’s a slap in the face that a clown like Ted Cruz should hold the purse strings.

It seems our nation has come under siege by an army of escapees from the psych ward...

a reply to: netbound

The running joke is the NASA's mission is too justify their existence. You don't have to look very far to find people in the scientific community that feels NASA has lost its way.

a reply to: anton74
I understand what you're saying, but I think those who have claimed NASA has lost it's way were insinuating that NASA hasn't been aggressive enough and isn't making the progress that was envisioned during the days of the Moon program. Also, missions like the Space Shuttle cost a lot and weren't designed to take us out of near earth orbit.

I agree with those points. But, that doesn't mean the entire program has gone awry. The NASA program was setup from the get-go (1958) to advance our knowledge of not only deep space, but also the Earth and it's surrounding atmosphere. It's not just a deep space program and was never intended to be. Think of all the benefit we've derived from weather satellites, communication satellites, Earth-observing satellites, etc., etc., etc. These things have equal value to the deep space probes, etc.

I wish NASA could put more focus on it's space exploration programs, but that requires more money than it's budget allows. If you want more out of NASA, then give it an adequate budget to do it. It's current budget is miniscule to amount of money we invest in the ongoing wars overseas.

a reply to: ATF1886

Next president will be elected for 2nd term and so will the one after him. Calling it.

originally posted by: xuenchen
Looks like NASA and any other "scientific" group is going to have to actually prove their cases from now on !!

How can they do that without funding? Idiots like Cruz doesn't seem to understand that it takes money to do research.

NASA should concentrate on space exploration and get out of the business of climate research. I want to know what is going on beyond our planet and see us advance in manned flights. Climate change research is a waste of NASA's budget.

a reply to: Metallicus

If not NASA, then who should use satellites to research climate science?

Climate change is real and understanding the how's and why's are integral to understanding what we, as a species, need to do to either combat it or accommodate to it.

originally posted by: xuenchen

Looks like NASA and any other "scientific" group is going to have to actually prove their cases from now on !!

originally posted by: buster2010

How can they do that without funding? Idiots like Cruz doesn't seem to understand that it takes money to do research.

Their "experts" need to testify in front of appropriations committees.

That's how.

They won't be able to BS their way through anymore.

They've been exposed.