So, Will Congress Cut NASA’s Budget Over China?

Yes, it’s a provocative title.  But I’ll show in a few lines that it’s not without precedent.

Representative Frank Wolf has written a letter to NASA (H/T ScienceInsider) over the planned attendance of Chinese officials at a conference held at a NASA facility.  The problem is that the participation of Chinese officials in the conference needs to be cleared by Congress.  This is due to a federal law Wolf wrote barring Chinese citizens from visiting NASA facilities.  While there is a provision allowing for a waiver, that process had to be completed two weeks prior to the event.  That deadline was last week.

No word yet as to what NASA’s official response will be.  Representative Wolf has requested a thorough review of all NASA facility visits since the law went into effect.  This suggests that even if this pending visit is resolved to his satisfaction, he may find other objectionable activity.

This is not the first time Representative Wolf has objected to Chinese participation in activities with federal agencies.  In 2011 Rep. Wolf objected to Chinese participation in meetings with Office of Science and Technology Policy personnel.  This led to a dramatic reduction in the office’s budget.  While Wolf may try to trim the NASA budget if he finds more apparent violations of the law, the agency does have some Congressional allies.  It may not suffer in the same way OSTP did (those budget cuts were nearly restored in subsequent years).