| Space Legislation: Senate
Votes
Senate support for the space station has remained steady over
the years regardless of the political party in the majority or, for
that matter, in the White House. In the Senate, NASA has carried
the day with a large margin of victory. The broad political base of
support in the upper house can be attributed, in large part, to the
coalition of states that hosts NASA research centers and the
distribution of funds by the space agency to businesses and
universities nationwide.
During each of the past six years, Senator Dale Bumpers (D-AR)
has offered an amendment to terminate the space station. He has
never gained more than 40 votes.
More recently, the Senate defeated an amendment offered by
Senator Smith (R-NH) to block NASA funding for space experiments
that use Rhesus monkeys to collect data on biological adaptations
to living in a weightless environment.
102nd Congress
1991 - Bumpers Amendment (7/17/91)
Senator Bumpers (D-AR) proposed an amendment to kill the space
station and divide the savings among other programs at NASA, the
National Science Foundation, and Department of Veterans. It failed
by a vote of 64 to 35.
1992 - Bumpers Amendment (9/9/92)
Senator Bumpers (D-AR) offered legislation to cancel the space
station and redirect some of the savings to veterans health care
and prosthetic research. The amendment was rejected by a vote of 63
to 34.
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103rd
Congress
1993 - Bumpers Amendment (9/21/93)
Senator Bumpers (D-AR) offered an amendment to eliminate funding
for the space station. It was defeated by a vote of 59 to 40.
1994 - Bumpers Amendment (8/3/94)
Senator Bumpers (D-AR) proposed legislation to terminate the space
station. The measure failed by a vote of 64 to 36.
104th Congress
1995 - Bumpers Amendment (9/26/95)
Senator Bumpers (D-AR) offered an amendment to cancel the space
station. It failed by a vote of 64 to 35.
1996 - Bumpers Amendment (9/4/96)
Senator Bumpers (D-AR) proposed legislation to terminate the space
station. The measure lost by a vote of 60 to 37.
1996 - Bion Amendment (9/4/96)
Senator Smith (R-NH) offered an amendment to block NASA funding for
Russian space experiments using monkeys to gather critical
scientific data on biological adaptations to living in a weightless
environment. The legislation failed by a vote of 54 to 42.
105th Congress
1997 - Bumpers Amendment (8/6/97)
Senator Bumpers' annual introduction of an amendment to kill the
Space Station was defeated by a vote of 69 to 31, the largest
margin since the Senator first offered the legislation.
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