Ranking Member Matt Cartwright Statement at the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for NASA Hearing

Congressman Matt Cartwright (D-PA), Ranking Member of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, delivered the following remarks at the Subcommittee's hearing on the Fiscal Year 2024 Budget Request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration:

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and thank you to our Administrator Nelson for joining us again and for taking our questions as we endeavor to fund your agency.

NASA continues to be respected throughout the world as a leader in advancing our knowledge of the Earth, the solar system, and the wider universe, as well as in advancing human space exploration, developing new technologies with wide applications, and helping to establish more fuel-efficient and environmentally-friendly aviation.

It is my hope that NASA will continue to inspire young Americans to pursue STEM-related careers. As an example, for the second year in a row, undergraduate students in my home city of Scranton at the University of Scranton were among the students who built atmospheric sensing devices that were later launched into space, as part of NASA's RockOn! Program.

NASA continues to move from strength to strength. From the Artemis I launch that went beautifully, to watching Ingenuity fly on the face of Mars, something nobody thought you could do. NASA did it. The impeccable unfolding of the James Webb Space Telescope, the OSIRIS-REx mission that will soon return an asteroid sample to Earth, and the Mars Sample Return mission. NASA also continues its work on a number of critical Earth Science programs aimed at advancing our understanding of the Earth and I look forward to hearing about these projects with you, Administrator Nelson.

In addition, NASA's aeronautics program is critical to advancing our goal of reaching net-zero carbon emissions from the aviation sector by no later than 2050.

But I do continue to be greatly concerned that powerful forces in the House of Representatives are planning and pushing for drastic cuts across the board in discretionary spending. These are proposals that would greatly harm various NASA initiatives that contribute so much to our scientific understanding, our economic development, and our standing in the world.

I look forward to hearing more from you today about these potential impacts as well as how NASA plans on managing all of the agency's endeavors in a cost-effective manner.

Thank you very much, Mr. Administrator for being here and Mr. Chairman. I yield back.