Texas GOP threaten funding bill as bipartisan group challenges plan to move space shuttle

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) holds a press conference at the U.S. Embassy, in Mexico City, Mexico, August 29, 2025. REUTERS/Eloisa Sanchez/File Photo

Just a few months after the longest government shutdown in US history, concerns are already looming about the next funding deadline on Jan. 30. With the details still being hammered out, a new feud is emerging over a provision of the last funding bill that could potentially imperil the next one: the location of the Space Shuttle Discovery.

In operation from 1984 to 2011, the Discovery flew over 150 million miles in space across many NASA operations, according to MS NOW's new report. It is currently on display at an annex of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. However, in what was considered a major win, Texas Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn secured a provision in last summer's sweeping funding bill calling for the shuttle to be moved to a new location in Houston.

With the new funding deadline a few weeks away, a bipartisan effort in opposition to this move has started to grow, with some lawmakers questioning a move that would result in fewer Americans being able to see the shuttle.

“No disrespect, but moving it to Texas? It’s not likely that as many Americans will have the chance to see it in Texas as they do in the nation’s capital,” Rep. Joe Morelle, a New York Democrat, said in a statement to MS NOW.

The Smithsonian Institution has also expressed serious concerns over the shuttle's ability even to make the journey to Texas.

"Discovery is the most intact shuttle orbiter of the NASA program, and we remain concerned that disassembling the vehicle will destroy its historical value," the institution said in an email statement to lawmakers.

For their own part, Texas's Republicans are not backing down, claiming that the move is a done deal. Texas lawmakers have long fumed over the Discovery being provided to the Smithsonian, accusing the Obama administration of snubbing them while four other states received retired spacecrafts to put on display.

“Nothing’s going to change that,” Cornyn told MS NOW.

Despite Cornyn's confidence, Morelle was able to secure unanimous approval from the House Appropriations Committee for a provision that will block the previous shuttle move provision, to be included in a bill about funding the Smithsonian and the Department of the Interior, setting up a potentially major feud complicating the next funding bill.

"As lawmakers search for another government funding deal ahead of that Jan. 30 deadline, Texas Republicans look apt to insist that no funding bill block Discovery from making its journey to Houston," MS NOW's report explained. "Just as some lawmakers want to insist that the next spending deal address the space shuttle transfer."

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