Bill Nye on proposed NASA budget cuts

[0:00] Well, that is from Artemis II Commander Reed Weissman using his iPhone during his crew's historic mission around the moon. [0:09] Weissman writing, [0:10] Only one chance in this lifetime, like watching sunset at the beach from the most foreign seat in the cosmos. [0:17] I couldn't resist a cell phone video of Earth set. [0:21] But at a time when NASA just made history, the agency is actually facing serious budget cuts, [0:26] with the White House proposing a slash to cash for the second year in a row. [0:30] So advocates are descending on Capitol Hill today, urging Congress to reject the proposal, calling this an extinction-level event. [0:40] And among them is renowned scientist and educator Bill Nye, who says Trump's proposed cuts to NASA are an insult to astronauts like the Artemis crew. [0:49] Bill Nye, who also serves as the chief ambassador of the Planetary Society alongside Casey Dreyer, [0:56] the chief of space policy. [0:58] They join me now here on set. [1:00] Gentlemen, thank you for being with me. [1:02] It is kind of crazy that we're talking about budget cuts after, you know, the Artemis crew basically goes viral all around the world. [1:10] I mean, Bill, what is the deal? [1:12] Well, these things happen in parallel. [1:15] The budget request, or the president's budget request, the PBR, was going along this way, [1:20] and then Artemis 2 finally flew. [1:22] It started in 2023 or so, and they finally flew. [1:26] And it was a great world moment. [1:29] And it's just, but the modern word is disconnect between... [1:33] It's tasteless. [1:34] I think the idea is that it's tasteless. [1:35] They weren't thinking about it, and it's completely insulting to, not just to the astronauts, [1:39] but the agency itself tasked with the success of that mission and the most difficult, challenging thing to do, [1:45] which is to send humans beyond Earth orbit. [1:47] No other agency has ever done that. [1:49] And NASA, as a reward, gets its budget proposed to be cut by a quarter. [1:52] So, Casey, we know the cuts would terminate dozens of NASA science missions, like more than 50, right? [1:58] And then you also say it throws away more than $13 billion in taxpayer investment and ends NASA's STEM outreach program. [2:08] I mean, that's crazy. [2:09] I mean, explain why folks need to understand the consequences here. [2:13] Yeah. [2:13] The STEM program is what pays students to have rocket clubs. [2:16] It is teacher training. [2:18] It's a fraction of NASA's budget. [2:20] It's so small. [2:20] Every single state, though, gets a benefit from it. [2:22] Everyone benefits from this. [2:24] Science itself is our fundamental, ongoing knowledge about the cosmos in which we live. [2:28] It's Earth assignments, climate observation, looking for asteroids. [2:31] It's understanding our origins. [2:33] And also things like aeronautics, things that help planes fly better. [2:36] They're cutting that in half. [2:37] It's nothing else. [2:38] It's just like such a bizarre policy being put forward. [2:42] And that's why it's so, frankly, unpopular, not just with Democrats, but with Republicans. [2:46] It is facing already very strong pushback. [2:48] So when we're on Capitol Hill, we meet people from both sides of the aisle, and everybody supports NASA. [2:55] It's just a strange thing. [2:56] The origin is probably the Office of Management and Budget, but the president himself, for people on the inside, [3:04] they're big supporters of space exploration, Artemis II and so on. [3:08] But somehow this other component of the government of this administration is not a fan of civil servants. [3:16] Astronauts are civil servants, for crying out loud. [3:18] They sure are. [3:19] And, yeah, and the people on the ground that support them. [3:21] So it's a surprising outcome. [3:23] We had the same deal in October. [3:26] We had the Planetary Society had 300 people from our organization and 19 others. [3:31] Today, it's mostly us. [3:34] We had 130 people this morning. [3:36] You had that picture from the Capitol Reflecting Pool. [3:40] Right. [3:41] Who've come here to point out that you don't want to do this. [3:44] And so we've been in congressional offices this morning. [3:47] And the term they throw around is that budget is dead on arrival. [3:51] But whatever happens, this is inefficient. [3:56] Proposing enormous cuts, fighting back against enormous cuts. [3:59] And if these cuts do happen, I mean, you know, the Artemis crew clearly was talking about landing on the moon [4:06] and then building an actual lab. [4:09] And then from there, we hopefully head to Mars. [4:11] What do these cuts mean for those goals? [4:15] NASA has already lost more than 20 percent of its workforce in a single year. [4:19] So it has the smallest workforce now since 1960. [4:22] This budget would lose another 2,000 people from NASA. [4:26] So those are enormous shocks to NASA's capability. [4:28] Again, while we're asking it to build up the most ambitious lunar and exploration program ever, [4:33] that is incoherent and is ultimately not going to enable NASA to succeed in these things. [4:38] We as a nation ask NASA to do these incredible things. [4:42] We've put incredibly high expectations on them. [4:44] We need to enable them to succeed. [4:46] Otherwise, we pull in the rug out from under this agency. [4:48] That is so precious to us. [4:49] We can't surrender space to China. [4:51] The best, yes, the best brand the United States has. [4:55] And I just, you know, I like to remind people. [4:58] The Constitution, now available in paperback, article one, section eight. [5:02] Bestseller. [5:03] New York Times bestseller. [5:05] Congress is to promote the progress of science and useful arts. [5:09] And along with the cuts proposed is to not bring the sample, the rock samples back from Mars. [5:16] These have, this is a replica. [5:19] These tubes are sitting on the surface of Mars with rocks in them that seem to bear the same kind of fossils we find of ancient life here on Earth. [5:28] This is an extraordinarily small investment that would change the course of human history, propose it being cut. [5:36] Then you have the shot of the moon there. [5:38] If nothing else, everyone, when we look at the far side of the moon, yes, the astronauts, the one that got me was the image of the eclipse where moon, moon glow was on the Earth. [5:50] That's the one. [5:51] I mean, it was all cool, but that one got me. [5:54] Anyway, you look at the far side of the moon, you see all those craters. [5:57] Do not want the Earth to get hit with an asteroid. [6:01] Bad outcome. [6:03] And when I was in elementary school, no one knew what happened to the ancient dinosaurs. [6:07] Now everybody agrees it was an asteroid impact. [6:10] If we're going to avoid that, it's going to be NASA that leads the world. [6:16] And to cut these funding, well, last time in October, Congress just pushed back and overturned the president's budget request proposal. [6:24] And it will probably happen again. [6:28] But as you say, what if they or it succeeds? [6:32] And this thing that the administration does a lot is just say something over and over until it becomes accepted. [6:40] And our concern would be saying, cut NASA, cut NASA, over and over. [6:45] It's not in anybody's best interest. [6:47] And meanwhile, China National Space is getting it done. [6:53] They're going to land people on the moon in 2030. [6:56] You can't be first in space if you're second in science. [6:58] That's the ultimate idea here. [6:59] Coming from the true scientist himself. [7:02] Casey and Bill, if anyone is going to get something done, it's going to be you too. [7:06] And we'll be tracking it. [7:07] Keep us updated. [7:08] Appreciate you both. [7:09] Thank you. [7:10] Always. [7:10] Thanks, guys.