Mikulski Calls Webb Termination Vote Shortsighted
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski says a House subcommittee vote to end funding for the James Webb Telescope is shortsighted and will kill 2,000 jobs nationwide.
Mikulski says the vote Thursday by the House Appropriations subcommittee is misguided and will stall scientific progress and discovery. The telescope is planned as the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope run by the Baltimore-based Space Telescope Science Institute, but has been beset by cost overruns. NASA announced last year that the telescope's budget had ballooned from $3.5 billion to $5 billion.
The Baltimore Democrat urged the administration to fight for funding for the telescope, which she says will lead to the
innovation and discovery that have made America great. Mikulski says the bill will now be considered by the appropriations committee on Wednesday.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
