LeMieux: Obama’s plan puts NASA on ‘life support’

The new plan “sounds better than the death of the space program,” LeMieux continued, “but it may only be the space program on life support.”

However, LeMieux is hardly the only GOPer to preemptively blast the president’s new plan. Also among early critics is Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), whose state is home to a major NASA base in Huntsville. Shelby quickly blasted the president’s new proposal in a release Wednesday, stressing it was just as “visionless” as the plan that preceded it.

“This new plan does not represent an advancement in policy or an improvement upon the Constellation program, but a continued abdication of America’s leadership in space,” said Shebly, the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee that handles NASA dollars.

“The President has replaced one visionless plan with another,” he continued. “It is clear that the Administration does not believe that American leadership in human space flight is a priority worth fighting for.”