'This Is Not A Transfer, It's A Heist': Dick Durbin Slams Removal Of Space Shuttle From Smithsonian

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In a Senate Appropriations Committee business meeting on Thursday, Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) condemned moving the Discovery space shuttle from Washington, D.C. to Houston, TX.

Transcript

00:00Are there further amendments to this bill?

00:04Yes, Senator Durbin.

00:06Madam Chairman, I have an amendment which was filed with the committee last night.

00:12I don't have the exact number before me, but I hope that it's being passed out.

00:20The title of this amendment is Houston, We Have a Problem.

00:23Twelve years ago, we had a space shuttle competition where it was going to be displayed

00:31so the American people could see this magnificent achievement.

00:35The competition ended with the decision that it would be placed at the National Air and Space Museum,

00:42a new facility to be built in Chantilly, Virginia.

00:47For the last 12 years, this facility has entertained 25 million visitors

00:55who have come to see the space shuttle at no charge.

00:59It appears that one of the states that lost in that competition 12 years ago has come up with a new idea.

01:06Let's do it over again and make sure Texas wins.

01:09So in the reconciliation bill, Texas entered $85 million to move the space shuttle

01:17from the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, to Texas.

01:23$85 million sounds like a lot of money.

01:26It is not nearly what's necessary for this to be accomplished.

01:29We asked NASA and the Smithsonian to sit down and figure out what it would actually cost

01:35to take this massive shuttle and move it.

01:37The total is $305 million.

01:41The appropriation and reconciliation was $85 million, far short of it.

01:47Houston has a problem.

01:49Where are they going to come up with the additional money to build a facility

01:51to actually display this shuttle?

01:55That facility, according to this estimate that was prepared for us,

01:58is $178 million that will be added on to the $85 million request.

02:03I raise this issue because I think we ought to think twice about this kind of approach.

02:09This will be the first time ever in the history of the Smithsonian

02:12that someone has taken one of their displays and forcibly taken possession of it.

02:19What are we doing here?

02:20They don't have the right in Texas to claim this.

02:24And secondly, $85 million isn't close to what it's going to cost if they're going to move it.

02:30We ought to have some honest accounting.

02:32Otherwise, I think we're dealing with something called waste, $85 million worth of waste.

02:37Now, I know that this is a controversial issue, and I know that there are other agencies,

02:42Smithsonian, NASA, and others that are interested in this issue.

02:46I'm going to withdraw this amendment, but I'm going to ask my colleagues, be honest about it.

02:51If we're going to use reconciliation to put a small amount of money on the table for the transfer,

02:57a forcible transfer, this is not a transfer.

03:01It's a heist.

03:02A heist by Texas because they lost the competition 12 years ago.

03:07I hope that we think about this long and hard before we approve any.

03:10I withdraw the amendment.

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