NASA authorization bill expected to be signed today
Today may be a federal holiday, but that apparently won’t stop the president from signing into law the NASA authorization bill. NASA organized [a last-minute telecon with agency officials and legislators][1] to discuss the “anticipated signing” later this afternoon of the bill by President Obama. (How last minute? I didn’t receive notice about it until well after it started; hopefully they’ll provide a recording of the telecon later today.) [There had been reports that the bill would be signed last Thursday][2], but this report, with the imprimatur of NASA, seems more likely to be true. As noted last week, the fact that the president is signing the bill isn’t surprising, but what’s important in the near term is that it starts the clock on a number of studies due over the next several months, even as the agency waits for appropriators to act on funding the agency for FY11.
[1]: http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/oct/HQ_M10-150_Authorization_Signing.html [2]: http://www.spacepolitics.com/2010/10/07/nasa-authorization-bill-to-be-signed-today/