Building Careers and Shaping Public Policy

25 May 2005

The Honorable Thad Cochran
Chair, Senate Appropriations Committee
United States Senate
Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman Cochran:

On behalf of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-United States of America (IEEE-USA), I am writing to urge your support in opposing drastic cuts to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Earth Science program. As the House Science Committee has reported, the fiscal year 2006 NASA budget request for earth science activities contains an 8 percent reduction over FY2005 and a 12 percent reduction over FY2004.

We are alarmed by the findings of a report by the National Academy of Sciences that this precipitous downward budgetary spiral threatens to delay or even cancel many critical NASA earth science missions. The National Academies report, Earth Science Applications from Space: Urgent Needs and Opportunities to Serve the Nation warns that, "The vitality of Earth science and application programs has been placed at substantial risk by a rapidly shrinking budget that no longer supports already-approved missions and programs of high scientific and societal relevance." It further states that, "Opportunities to discover new knowledge about Earth are diminished as mission after mission is canceled, descoped, or delayed because of budget cutbacks, which appear to be largely the result of new obligations to support flight programs that are part of the Administration's vision for space exploration."

The tremendous benefits to the United States of research conducted through NASA's earth science activities should not be underestimated. The earth science program has done and continues to perform critical research in areas such as global climate changes, weather and natural disaster mitigation, and mapping deforestation. No other agency is as adequately equipped as NASA to contribute to a thorough and complete understanding of the Earth, its atmosphere and environment. We strongly encourage Congress to reverse the disturbing trend in reduction in funding support for NASA's earth science missions.

Thank you for your attention to this important issue. IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc., created in 1973 to advance the public good, while promoting the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 235,000 electrical, electronics, computer and software engineers who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. Please contact Bill Williams at 202-785-0017 if we can be of any assistance.

Sincerely,

Gerard A. Alphonse
President, IEEE-USA

(Sample – Similar letters sent to members of the
House and Senate Appropriations Committees)