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.

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.