Emailer Jon Goff points out an article by Alan Boyle indicating that the logjam over HR 3752 has apparently been broken. It looks like the legislation can be passed this year. At least this will help things move forward on the private front (which I think is more promising anyway) even if the president’s new vision doesn’t get funded.

It looks like he’s not going to make a public fight for it, since he didn’t take the opportunity of the Apollo anniversary to say anything about it. But he may still try to twist arms behind the scenes.

[Update at 10:30 AM PDT]

Here’s an interesting development. According to space.com, the president is threatening to veto the appropriations bill if it doesn’t fund the new vision. Hard to know whether or not this is bluff. It would substantiate the Cowing/Seitzen thesis that the president truly wants this if he actually does veto this bill, because it would be the first bill that he’d have vetoed in his presidency. Of course, the fact that he’s never vetoed a bill yet takes away some of the credibility of the threat if he’s only bluffing. A president has to choose battlegrounds carefully to maintain clout, because he doesn’t want to get into a position from which he has to back down.