NASA had not made any significant achievements in aerospace technology in recent years, and the excuse they provided to the public was a lack of budget, a lack of money. In reality, NASA's budget was still the highest in the world, almost thirty billion US dollars.
NASA received so much money yet constantly claimed to be impoverished, mainly because the funds were not being spent effectively, and a great deal of it was siphoned off by people within the organization.
"We at NASA have so many assets and such a large enterprise that even a lot of money doesn't go very far! In order to maintain our Beautiful Country's space hegemony, NASA has made great sacrifices, and Director Judith seems to misunderstand us!"
