WASHINGTON — The House Science, Space and Technology Committee has begun drafting a NASA authorization bill that would hold the agency to a top line of about $16.87 billion, bar funding for a planned asteroid rendezvous mission, and divert money for Earth observation into robotic missions to other parts of the solar system, according to an official summary of the bill obtained by SpaceNews.

The bill also would authorize NASA to spend $700 million annually on the Commercial Crew Program — up from the $500 million Congress authorized in 2010 — and require the agency to report every 90 days on the effort.

The House Science space subcommittee has scheduled a June 19 hearing on the NASA Authorization Act of 2013. NASA Advisory Council Chairman Steven Squyres and former Martin Marietta chief executive A. Thomas Young have been called to testify.

A summary of the draft bill is reproduced here: