The Associated Press November 09, 2006
Experts: Democratic control of Congress OK for Huntsville
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — Experts say the Democratic takeover of Congress shouldn't hurt north Alabama's space industry, which is heavy on missile defense, rocket assembly and is already at work on President Bush's plan to send astronauts back to the moon and on to Mars.
While such programs weren't a favorite of many Democrats when the party was last in power, things have changed, according to Mark McDaniel, an attorney who serves on a panel that advises members of Congress on issues related to science and NASA.
"This party has been in the minority for virtually 12 years. They learned something during that time," said McDaniel. "I don't believe this is a 'liberal' or 'ultra liberal' Democratic party taking over Congress."
After President Clinton took office in 1993, post-Cold War changes in defense policy and Democratic cuts in defense spending led to widespread cancellation of Pentagon programs and layoffs. Many jobs were lost in Huntsville when space and missile defense programs were slashed or eliminated.
A Democratic majority should be different in 2007, military and space experts told The Huntsville Times in a story Thursday.
"I don't see anybody out there on the Democrats' side with a strongly held view on chopping up missile defense or Defense Department budgets," said John Pike, a veteran defense expert and director of GlobalSecurity.org. "I don't think the changeover will have a lot of effect on missile defense and space programs at all."
Victoria Samson, a research analyst with the Center for Defense Information in Washington, D.C., said Democrats probably would be less likely to automatically pass Defense Department and NASA budgets without scrutiny. Samson said long-term Pentagon programs like the Huntsville-based Kinetic Energy Interceptor missile defense system, "saw some opposition even in the Republican-held Congress."
"Now, Democrats are much more likely to question these type of unproven development programs and open up more legislation that would at least require more testing," she said.
McDaniel said Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, would be in a better position to keep Huntsville programs healthy "because of his seniority that he has built up over the years to represent Marshall. He's also very influential in the Blue Dog Coalition," referring to the conservative Democratic caucus.
Republican Sens. Richard Shelby of Tuscaloosa and Jeff Sessions of Mobile have both been influential in winning money and support for NASA and Pentagon programs over the past 10 to 12 years. Several programs have been moved to Marshall from other NASA centers over the past few years, notably the management of a lunar probe mission.
Keith Cowing, a NASA expert who runs NASAWatch.com, said it would be difficult to move those programs back "and I don't expect that Marshall will lose anything, but I don't think it will be easy to gain a lot of new work either."
© Copyright 2006, The Associated Press
