Sen. Martinez Supports Increasing NASA's Budget

Maybe it's just election year babble, but Florida Republican U.S. Senator Mel Martinez spoke out in favor of bosting NASA's budget to eliminate the 5 year gap between the retirement of the space shuttle and Orion becoming operational.

"That gap of time is critical," Martinez said. "Can you imagine the United States having to rely on Vladimir Putin to put a man or woman in space? I believe the United States should not be dependent on anyone else."

"We have a national security imperative in being pre-eminent in space," Martinez said, citing the Global Positioning System satellite, as well as military communications satellites. "If all of that was to go dark, we'd have a heck of a problem."

It's important to note that Martinez' seat isn't up for election this year, so I wouldn't necessarily consider his statements to be pandering for votes.

I also took note that he didn't speak of any specific dollar amounts, proposals or legislative action that he's taken. At this point it seems more a symbolic statement than anything else. However, more politicians (and candidates for political office) have voiced concern about the gap, which isn't a bad thing.

http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/NEWS02/801160345/1007/NEWS02