The budget resolution reflects a fight between the administration and Rep. Frank Wolf. CR would bar NASA from China ties

House Republicans want to ban NASA from developing a relationship with China.

The nations’ suddenly star-crossed space programs are the subject of a funding-limitation provision in a spending measure released by GOP leaders Friday night. The language is the latest salvo in a battle between the White House and congressional conservatives over the future of the U.S. space program.


“None of the funds made available by this division may be used for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of enactment of this division,” the bill’s drafters wrote.

It’s a small provision in a big bill that, if enacted, would fund government agencies from March 4 through Sept. 30 at levels $100 billion below those envisioned in President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 budget.

But it reflects a long-running fight between the Obama administration and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), a critic of China on human rights, national security and economic grounds. Wolf is chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds the space program.

Last fall, he and a handful of colleagues wrote a letter objecting to NASA Chief Charles Bolden’s visit to China.

“As you know, we have serious concerns about the nature and goals of China’s space program and strongly oppose any cooperation between NASA and China,” Wolf wrote, along with Republican Reps. John Culberson of Texas, Robert Aderholt of Alabama and Dana Rohrabacher of California. Culberson and Aderholt also serve on the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science.

Wolf also pilloried the Obama administration’s fiscal 2011 space budget, saying in an April 2010 op-ed in Space News that it “radically scales back U.S. ambition, access, control and exploration in space” and that “in terms of national security and global leadership, the White House’s budget plan all but abdicates U.S. leadership in exploration and manned space flight at a time when other countries, such as China and Russia, are turning to space programs to drive innovation and promote economic growth.”

In November, Space News reported that Bolden told an audience that a relationship between the two countries could be mutually beneficial — but that they don’t need each other to advance.

The prohibition in the House “continuing resolution” goes beyond cracking down on substantive collaboration and forbids NASA from providing for visits by Chinese dignitaries.

“The limitation in subsection (a) shall also apply to any funds used to effectuate the hosting of official Chinese visitors at facilities belonging to or utilized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,” it admonishes.