290 HISTORY OF THE ( OMMITTI E ON SCIENC1 AND TECHNOLOGY 



thai he knew really very little about the Shuctle system that the President had 



endorsed 



And for Downing, fifth-ranked Democrat on the committee, it 



\\ .is also a shock : 



1 don't know how large a bloc they are, hut the ticket might .is well write off 

 all the voters who are affected either directly or indirectly by the aerospace industry, 



A McGovern victory in \9~- would have meant a serious blow to 

 the future hopes ot the Shuttle, especially with the rising opposition 

 in the Senate Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (Democrat of 

 Moniana announced his public opposition to the Shuttle on Jan- 

 uary 15, 19~2 ten days alter President Nixon's decisive support. The 

 death ot Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Senator Allen J. 

 Ellender (Democrat of Louisiana on July 27, 1972, caused NASA to 

 shake in its hoots, because it eventually resulted in Senator Proxmire, 

 .in avowed opponent of the Shuttle, moving up to the subcommittee 

 chairmanship over NASA appropriations. But the powerful, united 

 support by the House Committee on Science and Astronautics helped 

 save the Shuttle in 1972. 



"bella, it is xtcf. to have you with us" 



After hearing NASA witnesses, and visiting the contractors and 

 NASA Centers, the Manned Space Flight Subcommittee threw its 

 hearings open to anyone who wanted to present testimony. At 1:30 

 p.m. on the afternoon of March 14, 19~2, Representative Bella S. 

 Abzug (Democrat of New York appeared in opposition to the Shuttle. 

 For some 700 pages prior to her appearance, the subcommittee had 

 commended and complimented a parade of Government and industry 

 witnesses describing how necessary the Shuttle was for America's 

 future. Now the subcommittee members eagerly awaited the oppor- 

 tunity to tangle with an opponent. 



The hearing opened innocently enough. Chairman Teague started 

 olf with a friendly greeting: "Bella, it is nice to have you with us". 

 Mrs. Abzug responded in kind: "It is nice to be here, Mr. Chairman". 

 She then launched into a broadscaled attack on the Shuttle: 



Now that NASA has reached the Moon, it is seeking a new, similarly glamorous 

 to) lot its next project and it feels that a Space Shuttle would be just the ticket. * * * 

 I would remind you that the President recently vetoed as fiscally irresponsible a hill 

 that would provide only $2 billion tor child care centers, a mundane hut urgent issue 

 for the millions of working parents in this country * * * I favor the use ot light- 

 weight, unmanned, instrumented Systems which can produce the same results as inn 

 manned program at a traction of its cost 



