{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-ma-lawmakers-defend-restored-chandra-funding-and-request-information-on-the-potential-scientific-damage-caused-by-future-funding-cuts-for-the-sole-us-x-ray-telescope", "Warren, MA Lawmakers Defend Restored Chandra Funding and Request Information on the Potential Scientific Damage Caused by Future Funding Cuts for the Sole U.S. X-Ray Telescope", "2024-10-31", "2024", "2024-10", "Democrat", "Senate", "MA", "Elizabeth Warren", "W000817", "www.warren.senate.gov", "warren", "https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Warren, MA Lawmakers Defend Restored Chandra Funding and Request Information on the Potential Scientific Damage Caused by Future Funding Cuts for the Sole U.S. X-Ray Telescope\n\nFollowing concerns by MA lawmakers, NASA restored funding for the telescope\n\nFuture funding cuts could cede telescope leadership to Europe, Japan, or China\n\nText of Letter (PDF)\n\nWashington, D.C. \u2013 U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.), along with Representatives Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), and Lori Trahan (D-Mass.) wrote to the Chandra X-Ray Center (Chandra), funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), with concerns over the telescope\u2019s long-term funding plans.\n\nNASA\u2019s FY 2025 budget proposal slashed funding for the Chandra telescope project by tens of millions of dollars, effectively shutting the project down and leaving the U.S. without an X-ray telescope. Following concerns raised by Senators Warren, Markey, and Whitehouse, as well as Representatives Moulton, McGovern, Trahan, Lynch, DelBene, and Auchincloss, NASA restored funding for the program.\n\nThe Chandra telescope was launched in 1999 and continues to provide essential, rare data that helps maintain the United States\u2019 lead in astronomy and astrophysics. Chandra provides insight into the universe that would not be possible with Earth-based telescopes. The program supports around 200 jobs, including 130 telescope staff and 60 support staff, postdocs, and students with X-ray-specific skills.\n\nIn a conference survey, 60 percent of the U.S. X-ray experts report they would leave the United States if Chandra was eliminated, which could risk ceding U.S. leadership in X-ray astronomy to Europe, Japan, or China.\n\nIn the last few months, NASA officials assured Congress and Chandra staff that the agency would restore Chandra\u2019s fiscal year 2025 funding, keeping the telescope fully operational for an additional year. However, NASA has not released plans to keep Chandra funded until a replacement is ready.\n\n\u201cWe are glad NASA looked at the evidence we presented and decided to restore Chandra\u2019s funding for another year, but Congress and NASA need to continue their support for X-ray astronomy,\u201d wrote the Massachusetts lawmakers.\n\nThe lawmakers asked Chandra to explain the full impact of the potential loss of the telescope and evaluate the justification NASA provided to cut the project by November 15, 2024.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T18:55:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.warren.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/warren-ma-lawmakers-defend-restored-chandra-funding-and-request-information-on-the-potential-scientific-damage-caused-by-future-funding-cuts-for-the-sole-us-x-ray-telescope"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 7.283346261829138, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}