HOW SHE SEES IT Republican leader is on a fool's errand

By BRONWYN LANCE CHESTER
VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Remember President Bush's roundly panned whim to put a man on Mars? An idea so unpopular with skeptical members of his own GOP caucus that it flatlined soon afterward?
It's back.
Not only has this budgetary boondoggle been resuscitated, but NASA got every red cent it requested to fund Project Martian Madness, thanks to the agency's new patron, House Majority Leader Tom "The Hammer" DeLay.
You see, when Texas rejiggered its congressional districts last year, DeLay's cronies in Austin conveniently drew his district to include the Johnson Space Center in Houston, a boon for the self-confessed "space nut."
And, as it turns out, for NASA. According to The Washington Post, the space agency snagged $16.2 billion in the $388 billion omnibus spending bill Congress passed Nov. 20. That's 4.1 percent of the entire bill, and the only pay hike for a non-defense scientific agency.
Even though NASA was unsure it would get enough money to feasibly begin funding the Mars mission, the agency jumped the gun. By November, The Post found that, even though money for the project was far from certain, NASA had already let more than 120 contracts.
How much will this adventure cost taxpayers? The $16.2 billion is just seed money for Bush's moon-to-Mars project. NASA estimates that the whole shebang will cost $100 billion by 2020.
Americans should hope some responsible soul in Washington shoots down this Red Planet folly.
The president's Mars plan wasn't funded after a congressional debate and a vote on its merits. Instead, it was slipped into the spending bill as a last-minute product of The Hammer's arm-twisting and hostage-taking abilities.
According to The Post, "the measure was adopted largely because DeLay threatened to scuttle the entire omnibus bill unless Bush got every nickel he requested."
So much for the democratic process.
DeLay's actions are symptomatic of a larger problem in Washington: a willingness to screw taxpayers nationwide in order to bring home the bacon to a few districts.
Sure, DeLay got his. And he gets Brownie points for reviving Bush's dubious pet project. But the majority leader should be a responsible steward of all Americans' tax dollars, not just those in Houston.
NASA hangers-on
Last time I wrote about this, the only pro-Mars-mission e-mails I received were from -- drum roll -- NASA employees, contractors and their families. Surprise.
The press release accompanying Bush's January announcement stated, "The president's vision for exploration will not require large budget increases in the near term."
Guess that depends on your definition of "large." But with our present $400 billion-plus deficit expected to morph into a $2.3 trillion monster over the next decade, any budget increase only adds to America's mounting fiscal woes.
This $100 billion isn't money we're spending to go to Mars; it's money we're borrowing. Specifically from the Chinese and others financing America's debt.
That January press release also touted the Mars mission as "improving our quality of life and helping save lives."
Bush should rethink his priorities. If he's indeed committed to those things, he could start by funneling some of this Mars money toward cancer research.
Or giving veterans their due.
Or helping millions of Americans with no health insurance.
Or defraying the cost of our war in Iraq.
Or finding alternative fuels so that Saudi Arabia is left wondering how to convert crude oil into groceries.
I'm all for projects that allow Americans to think big and dream as a nation. But at this point, thinking big and dreaming is believing Iraq can hold free and fair elections in January.
Maybe I shouldn't knock the Mars plan. It all depends on whom we want to send.
Tom DeLay springs to mind.
With a multiyear round trip, his absence from Congress might give lawmakers a fighting chance to establish a little fiscal discipline.
X Bronwyn Lance Chester is a columnist for The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune .