Eagle.
The President's Office.
Biden rubbed his temples with his right hand, his eyes filled with exhaustion and distress.
In recent years, he has been exhausted from trying to suppress China's development.
We just finished dealing with the Luan Niao 1 issue, and now this space debris issue has popped up!
After patiently listening to his chief of staff finish explaining the situation, he lowered his arm, glared at the chief of staff with dissatisfaction, and said...
"So, Chief of Staff, all you've said is to persuade me to compromise?"
"That's $1 billion! It's practically extortion! If we give it to them, what will become of America's reputation!"
The chief of staff gave a wry smile and said, "Your Excellency, although I hate to admit it, we have fallen behind in the space race."
"If we don't pay, Mousse Technology will place the space debris it collects in geostationary orbit above us, which will not only be embarrassing for us, but will also create huge obstacles for our future space activities."
"Moreover, our people strongly support cooperating with Mousse Technology to clean up space debris. Their slogan, 'Protecting the space environment is everyone's responsibility,' is politically correct in China and there's no way to refute it!"
"Most importantly, Mr. President, this is an election year, and your opponents have expressed their views on cooperation in various forums. If we refuse, it may negatively impact your approval rating."
The chief of staff's last words struck Biden like a hammer blow.
Upon hearing that it would affect his re-election bid, Biden's face immediately fell.
He sighed, waved his hand helplessly, and said, "Go and handle it. Don't damage the country's image, and let the public know that we are very proactive in protecting the space environment."
The chief of staff's lips twitched. He was speechless at this demand for both sides, but his mind raced and he quickly came up with the perfect scapegoat.
NASA Administrator's Office.
"Director Briden, that's what His Excellency the President means: NASA will step in and cooperate with Mousse Technologies," the chief of staff said to the NASA director in front of him.
“No problem with cooperation,” Briden said, raising an eyebrow with a hint of excitement.
Given China's achievements in space exploration, his scientists had long wanted to collaborate, but various restrictions imposed by the White House had prevented them from succeeding.
"However, this cost... Chief of Staff, as you know, NASA's budget has been cut again and again over the years, and we simply can't squeeze out another 1 billion dollars."
Thinking about the cost, Briden shrugged and said with dissatisfaction.
He and all NASA employees are extremely dissatisfied with the White House's repeated cuts to NASA's budget!
When the topic of expenses came up, the chief of staff also seemed quite troubled. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "The White House will try to cover part of the expenses, and you can figure out the rest yourselves."
"As you know, recently all the funds have been invested in that alien spaceship in Area 51. You guys go and cooperate with Mousse Technology first, and I'll try to divert some funds from Area 51."
Brident wasn't fooled. Instead, he pressed on, "How much of that will the White House cover? If it's less than $800 million, I can't take the job!"
Briden knew these White House bureaucrats well; they were all talk and no action, and had no sincerity whatsoever!
If he doesn't agree on the amount directly, the person in front of him might just act like a rogue, and then even if the White House allocates $1 million, they can claim to the outside world that they paid for it!
The chief of staff's expression changed, and he said angrily, "Director Briden, you're asking for too much. $800 million is impossible. I can only give you $300 million at most!"
Briden snorted and immediately resorted to shamelessness, saying, "300 million! Impossible, Chief of Staff, I can't do this. Find someone else!"
The chief of staff, his face grim, gritted his teeth and said, "I can only give you a maximum of $400 million. Briden, don't push your luck. This is the president's order!"
“$800 million, not a penny less,” Briden shouted, glaring at him.
"450 million, that's the most I can do!"
"I'll give you face and compromise, 790 million!"
......
Outside the director's office.
The other NASA staff members, hearing the roars coming from inside, perked up their ears.
The argument lasted for half an hour.
The White House chief of staff stormed out of his office and left without looking back.
Seeing this, assistant Monica pushed open the door to the director's office to ask what was going on.
Chief Brident had a smile on his face and was humming a little tune, showing no signs of anger whatsoever.
"Chief, what's going on?" Monica asked with a face full of curiosity.
"Monica, you've come at the right time. I have something to tell you. Contact Mousse Technology and tell them we plan to cooperate with them on space debris disposal," Briden said with a smile as she entered.
He was in a good mood, having secured $700 million in funding from the White House, marking the first time he had come out on top.
With this money, NASA can raise some more funds to collaborate with Mousse Technologies, or simply pay for garbage disposal.
But it didn't matter; he didn't care about saving face. He was still looking forward to cooperating with Mousse Technology in the space field.
Putting aside nationality and political stance, most scientists at NASA are quite simple. The reason these top scientists gather at NASA is because of their dream of exploring the universe.
They felt no envy towards the Mousse Group, which currently holds the most advanced space technology in human history.
On the contrary, many of these scientists are admirers of Ye Chen!
Soon after, NASA announced that it would collaborate with Mousse Technologies on space debris cleanup.
At a routine press briefing, the White House spokesperson stated with an air of righteous indignation: "Protecting the space environment has always been a pursuit of the U.S. government. This collaboration between NASA and Mousse Technologies will greatly benefit human space activities. We are very pleased to see this collaboration proceed smoothly. Protecting the space environment is everyone's responsibility..."
Following the US statement, other major powers and forces involved in space activities, such as the EU, Japan, the United States, and Australia, which have always followed the US lead, have also expressed their willingness to cooperate with Mousse Technology to jointly address the threat of space debris, seeing that their leader has compromised.
In fact, they were also starting to feel the pressure from the public.
Years of propaganda, originally intended to hinder environmental efforts in non-Western countries, have backfired on them.
In these Western countries, environmental protection is considered absolutely politically correct.
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