Mo Brooks

U.S. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, addresses about 800 business and community leaders during his annual Washington Update on Monday, March 6, 2017, at the Von Braun Center. (Paul Gattis/pgattis@al.com)

NASA could see funding cuts to help make way for President Trump's plan to build up the military, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks said Monday.

Brooks, R-Huntsville, made a brief reference to possible cuts at NASA during a 30-minute speech to business and community leaders at the Von Braun Center during his annual Washington Update.

Brooks spoke as about 70 protesters picketed across Clinton Avenue from the civic center, demanding that Brooks hold a town hall meeting. Brooks repeated his stance Monday that he had no intention of holding a town hall.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center at Redstone Arsenal in Brooks' north Alabama district provides about 6,000 jobs for civil servants and contractors and was the site for development of the space agency's new deep-space rocket, SLS.

During his speech, Brooks praised Trump's economic policies and said that it could eventually lead to roughly $1 trillion in federal tax revenues - which, Brooks said, would help reduce or eliminate the national debt.

But in Brooks' next sentence - as the NASA logo flashed on the giant video screens - the four-term congressman offered some potentially grim news for Huntsville's space community.

Saying that non-defense spending cuts are expected to help pay for the increase in defense spending, Brooks said, "Those cuts may include NASA and you need to be mindful of that. We will know more when the White House submits their actual budget to Congress later this month."

Brooks then pivoted to discussing Obamacare, saying nothing more about NASA.

Following his speech, Brooks said that while NASA cuts could be bad news for north Alabama, the increase in defense spending could be good news.

He also repeated that potential NASA cuts won't be known until Trump sends his budget to Congress, which is expected to take place later this week or next week.

"Everybody should be concerned," Brooks told AL.com when asked about potential NASA cuts. "Funding cuts to NASA can have a negative effect on America's preeminence in space on the one hand and on Tennessee Valley jobs on the other.

"But on the plus side, we are a major military installation and it may mean more funding on the national defense side, which would be a big plus to the Tennessee Valley economy. I don't know how it washes at this point because we don't have hard numbers."

Brooks said he believed Trump's plan to build up the military was "on the right track." The president has proposed a $54 billion increase in defense spending, which would be funded by $54 billion in cuts to non-defense programs.

The Trump administration has sparked confidence that NASA may take a more significant place in the national spotlight. There was also an expectation that during his speech to a joint session of Congress last week that Trump would call for the restoration of manned missions launched from the U.S.

Instead, reports said that part of the speech was cut in the interest of time.