A Senate Appropriations subcommittee approved a plan yesterday for moving funding for weather satellite procurement from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to NASA.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies, said the move will save $117 million in fiscal 2013 and allow each agency to do what it does best.

The satellite plan was part of the $51.9 billion Commerce, Justice and Science (CJS) appropriations bill that the subcommittee approved in a 17-1 vote. The full committee markup is scheduled for tomorrow.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) was the lone dissenting vote. He did not comment on the satellite proposal; rather, he expressed discontent that the appropriations bill, which represents a $1 billion reduction below enacted fiscal 2012 levels, simply controls the rate of growth and does not make true cuts needed to reduce the national deficit.

Under the legislation, which was praised by committee members on both sides of the aisle, NOAA would continue to operate weather satellites and process the data collected by them, which are used for weather forecasts and warnings. NASA already oversees procurement contracts on behalf of NOAA, but the bill would give the space agency the lead role in managing the entire procurement process from start to finish.

Lawmakers have repeatedly criticized NOAA over the ballooning costs of satellite programs; most notably, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) program increased by another billion dollars in the past year to a lifetime cost of $12.9 billion.

And many have expressed concern that NOAA has proposed spending 37 percent of its $5.1 billion budget request on satellites while slashing funding for other vital observation and fishery management programs.

"We have said time and time and time again to NOAA, 'Get your act together,'" Mikulski said during the markup of the appropriations bill for the agencies.

"We hope this will save money and deal with the continual cost overruns that are eating up the NOAA budget and, frankly, eating up the budget and goodwill of this subcommittee," she added.

The satellite provision would slash NOAA's fiscal 2013 budget request by about $1.7 billion to $3.4 billion. That is about $1.5 billion below the enacted level for fiscal 2012.

Conversely, it boosts NASA's budget to $19.4 billion, a $1.6 billion increase over fiscal 2012 enacted level. However, without the transfer of funds from NOAA for satellite procurement, the space agency's budget would reflect a $41.5 million cut from 2012.

Specifics of the proposal have yet to be fleshed out -- such as which agency would decide what instruments need to be included on future satellites, or how the two agencies would work together. More insight may be provided when the committee releases the full legislative text of the CJS appropriations bill and the committee report after the markup on Thursday.