The Webb is funnelling too much money into too many congressional districts for it to be politically acceptable to be de-funded. At $150M, GEMS isn't. This is

The Webb is funnelling too much money into too many congressional districts for it to be politically acceptable to be de-funded. At $150M, GEMS isn't. This is the pattern that NASA has been stuck in for decades: frugal projects that go an inch over their budget caps are cancelled with little hesitation; projects that spread around billions of dollars worth of pork -- or better yet, tens of billions -- are unkillable. The message to project managers and industry partners has been crystal clear: if you want your project to survive, make it really REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY expensive. In the early 90s there were a couple of incredibly cheap BMDO (military) projects (the DC-X and Clementine lunar probe, specifically) which proved to space enthusiasts like myself that the high cost of space was mostly a political artefact. The BMDO could get away with that because it wasn't subject to the same level of political porkbarreling as NASA -- but alas, it was the exception that proved the rule. Since then, our only hope has been with the private sector, and it's wonderful to see SpaceX finally delivering on that hope. I only hope that there will eventually be some spillover for pure space science itself, which will probably always remain a governmental endeavour.