Not sure how many saw this one over at the Sky&Telescope sight: http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/home/125133359.html "Yesterday the House Appropriations Committee unveiled its spending plan<http://appropriations.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=250023>for the coming fiscal year. Rather than adding the needed funds to speed JWST along, the cost-conscious Congress is looking to make deep cuts in the space agency's budget. It proposes to provide NASA with $16.8 billion in fiscal 2012 — $1.6 billion less than in fiscal 2011 and $1.9 billion below President Obama’s request. Worse, the House committee specifically calls for the termination of the JWST project." "It's a shocking and unexpected turn for the next step after Hubble, which is due to cease operations later this decade. "In these austere budget times, a cut to the request was widely expected, but not to this extent," notes Marcia Smith<http://spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1673>, a veteran space-policy analyst. The Committee is looking to make such deep reductions, in part, because Congress favors having NASA develop a new heavy-lift Space Launch System<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Launch_System>capable of sending crews beyond Earth orbit. The fiscal 2012 plan contains $1.9 billion to keep that program rolling." Looks like in the eyes of the House Committee that it is either Webb or a heavy launch vehicle system. What a shame it Webb is indeed canceled as they just finished polishing the mirror if I remember correctly. -- Jay Eads