By Adam Mann

At a hearing in Washington DC on 10 February, members of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science asked the inspectors general of NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) how they could reduce federal spending at those agencies. The hearing is part of the effort by the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to specify how to slash $58 billion from the FY2011 budget.

“We are looking at making cuts in programs that are inefficient and ineffective to meet our debt reduction needs,” said Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the subcommittee.

The most immediate challenge to NASA funding, which would decrease by $379 million under the Republicans’ plan, comes from two conflicting legislative directives, said Paul Martin, the agency’s Inspector General. Congress passed an Authorization Act last September ordering the agency to cancel the Constellation program, aimed a returning US astronauts to the Moon, while simultaneously funding the federal government under a continuing resolution, which prohibits NASA from terminating or initiating new programs, he said.

“Without congressional intervention, by the end of February 2011, NASA anticipates spending up to $215 million on Constellation projects that it would have considered canceling or significantly scaling back,” he said, adding that the figure could grow to $575 million by the end of the fiscal year.

Those estimated funds would be welcome at an agency that needs an additional infusion of $500 million over the next two years for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), the perennially troubled successor to Hubble. The money is required to cover cost overruns on the project, which have grown from an initial estimate of $1.6 billion to $6.5 billion and highlight a “systemic weakness” at the agency to properly gauge mission costs, said Martin.

NASA must also deal with the Authorization Act’s provision to fly an additional space shuttle flight before the fleet retires, at a cost of $500 million. “It remains to be seen whether the agency will obtain additional funding for this final shuttle flight or whether it will need to pay for it using existing funds,” said Martin.

Martin identified the aging infrastructure at NASA’s ten national facilities as another potential source of savings. With over 5,400 labs and building, 80 percent of which are more than 40 years old, the agency spends approximately $2.5 billion annually just “fixing roofs and plugging holes,” he said. Getting rid of elderly and unnecessary buildings could reduce this figure, he added.

Some of the subcommittee members were interested in savings from overlap reductions between NASA and other agencies, such as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), with Rep. Wolf specifically citing climate change data collection as a possible starting point. The idea may been in response to a letter earlier in the week from six Republican members of Congress urging appropriators to prioritize NASA’s manned spaceflight over climate change research. The issue is a policy directed one and, as such, Martin declined to comment.

But others members urged swift action to get NASA out of the quagmire its in. “We need to provide some clarity if we want to save money,” said Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA), the subcommittee ranking member.

Potential cuts are also sought for the NSF. Although the agency would ostensibly see a six percent increase over its 2010 budget under the Republican measures, pressure from within the party and conservative groups could force the announcement of further cuts as early as Friday.

One cost saving measure identified by the agency’s Inspector General, Allison Lerner, was a pilot program the NSF was currently engaged in to hold panel meeting in the virtual world Second Life. Each year, 19,000 scientists come to the NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia to do merit panels, and each panel costs $10,000, said Lerner. The agency has already saved money holding six panels online by leasing dedicated servers from Second Life’s developer, Linden Research, for $3,600 annually, she said.

The inspector general’s office also found fraud, waste, and abuse of the agency’s refreshment purchases at official conferences to the tune of $500,000 during 2008 and 2009, suggesting that it could be a place to cut costs.

Subcommittee members were skeptical that they could generate significant savings by skimping in this area and some suggested that it might not be a wise course of action.

“I don’t think we should be inviting the most knowledgeable scientists in the world to talk about curing cancer and not offer them coffee,” said Rep. Fattah.