278 HISTORY OF Till COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY 



KARTH AMENDMENT AGAINST SHUTTLE 



Karth's amendment to the authorization bill in 1970 cut $240 

 million from the entire bill, eliminating the $80 million increase voted 

 by the committee, cutting back an additional $110 million asked by 

 NASA in its budget, and lopping another $50 million from manned 

 space programs. 



Representative H. R. Gross (Republican of Iowa) poked fun at the 

 Karth Amendment by contending it did not go far enough. Gross 

 proposed instead to slash $1.5 billion from the $3.6 billion authoriza- 

 tion bill for this reason: 



There has been much talk about austerity here today- Well, anyone would have- 

 to have moon rocks in his head to believe there is any austerity in this program. As 

 a matter of fact, with the amendment offered by the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. 

 Karth), it is still above President Nixon's budget. And that is austerity? 



When Roudebush pointed out to Gross that the bill was less than 

 spent the previous year, the caustic Gross shot back: "Well, so what? 

 It was far too much last year." The Gross amendment was voted 

 down, 67-19- 



In the closing minutes of the debate, Karth made a strategic error 

 in suggesting that the Space Shuttle would necessarily lead to a $50 

 billion to $100 billion manned landing on Mars. Karth stated that this 

 "back door" approach to a Mars landing "is something I think we 

 ought to debate loud and clear." 



"There is no money in here for a manned trip to Mars," countered 

 Fuqua. Roudebush added: "I am puzzled by the statement that the 

 Shuttle is in some way mixed up with the Mars landing, when nothing 

 is further from the truth." Chairman Miller also authoritatively 

 persuaded his colleagues that there was no relation between the Space 

 Shuttle and a manned Mars trip. 



When the roll was called, many Members had left the floor and the 

 results were in doubt. Miller and Teague had lined up their troops to 

 stay at their posts, but the opposition was strong also. In a teller vote, 

 as Members passed down the center aisle and were counted by Miller 

 and Karth, it was obvious that the result was going to be a close one. 

 Representative Louis Frey, Jr. (Republican of Florida) recalls: 



I'd lobbied pretty hard with the freshmen, anil after the lust rush of people went 

 through, one of the freshmen from Maryland came rushing in from a meeting and 

 went through the line on our side He was followed by another Maryland Congress- 

 man. The gavel came down, it was announced to be a tie vote, and so the Shuttle 

 stayed in. The second Maryland Congressman said ' Blankety-blank it! I went through 

 the wrong wa) !' As 1 look at the shuttle now, 1 often wonder what would have 

 happened it he'd walked through the right way. 



