NASA Spent Over $400K Taxpayer Dollars On Union Time Last Year; NASA Spent $13M On DEI Under Biden While Critical Mission, Quality Controls Flailed, Watchdog Group Says; NASA Begins Its DOGE Restructuring by Firing Workers and Announcing 3 Departments Will Be Shut Down

NASA spent over $400K taxpayer dollars on union time last year:

NASA spent more than $400,000 on taxpayer-funded union time over the 12 months ending Sept. 30, 2024, leading a GOP senator who has been probing federal expenditures on non-government work to accuse space agency employees of “ripping off taxpayers by an astronomical amount.”

The $417,798 outlay can be traced to 30 workers who spent at least 4,078 hours over fiscal year 2024 on union-related activities, according to data obtained by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), chair of the Senate DOGE caucus, and shared with The Post.

Union time encompasses various activities — such as labor meetings, representing employees who face disciplinary action, union-sponsored training activities and preparing for collective bargaining negotiations.

“If federal employees want to space out from their jobs,” Ernst told The Post, “they need to refund the American people for every last penny.”

Although the amount of NASA taxpayer dollars set aside for union time has been on a downward trajectory, slipping from $477,204 in fiscal year 2023 and $641,037 in fiscal year 2019, Ernst argued that even one cent is too much.

“Taxpayer-funded union time needs to end,” she told The Post.

While NASA’s spending on union time has been trending down, which has not been the case for other federal agencies, its budget has decreased as well.

“NASA is complying with all applicable Executive Orders from the Trump Administration. Currently, employees may be granted official time to perform labor union representational hours in accordance with federal law,” an agency spokesperson told The Post.

In 2024, NASA was allocated $24.88 billion, down from $25.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. If adjusted for inflation, NASA’s current budget is also less than what it received in 2019.

NASA’s dominance in the US space sector has slipped over recent decades due to the explosion of private-sector actors such as SpaceX, one of its top contractors. --->READ MORE HERE

NASA spent $13M on DEI under Biden while critical mission, quality controls flailed, watchdog group says:

'Newtonian physics and atmospheric reentry do not care about antiracism,' watchdog leader says of NASA spending

While issues at NASA grew under former President Joe Biden, the space agency prioritized embedding diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives into its workforce, according to a new report from watchdog group OpenTheBooks.

Amid preparations for its Starliner capsule mission — which ultimately went awry, leaving two astronauts stranded in space — NASA spent more than $13 million on related efforts between 2021 and 2024. During the ongoing Starliner spaceship debacle, an Inspector General report highlighted even further shortcomings by the agency, particularly related to quality control around NASA's efforts to return astronauts to the moon.

Simultaneously, while NASA was facing these mission-critical deficiencies, it was also reportedly taking substantial steps to embed DEI into agency practices through a variety of avenues, including grants, contracts, employee guidance, agency-wide strategic equity commitments, book talks and more.

During President Donald Trump's first term, he sought to root out DEI programs in the federal government, similar to his efforts today. Before ending his first term, in September 2020, Trump signed an executive order to combat race and sex stereotyping within federal government programs. His order was rescinded just a few months later by the Biden administration. During former President Joe Biden's first few days in office, he signed several executive orders aimed at embedding the equity considerations Trump sought to get rid of in federal government programs.

Following Biden's directives, NASA went full force at embedding these principles into its day-to-day operations, OpenTheBooks' report illustrates. At the same time, NASA was preparing its Starliner capsule to transport two astronauts to the International Space Station for what was intended to be a week-long mission. Instead, due to multiple malfunctions with the rocket that carried them there, the astronauts were stranded in space for months. Elon Musk's SpaceX was ultimately tapped to help bring the astronauts home, and they are expected to return sometime this month.

In 2021, the same year NASA's Starliner capsule was undergoing test flights, NASA employees were engaged in a book talk about "open[ing] the lines of communication on anti-racism," alongside author Uju Asika. Asika, who was also invited back the following year, spoke to parents at NASA about her book, "Bringing Up Race: How to Raise a Kind Child in a Prejudiced World," in which she laments her "Eurocentric" education in the U.K., "colonialism," and the results of the 2016 election. An earlier book talk at the space agency in 2020 included talks by infamous anti-racist scholar Ibram X. Kendi. --->READ MORE HERE

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+++++NASA begins its DOGE restructuring by firing workers and announcing 3 departments will be shut down+++++

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