Exactly. Why use an “aeronautics and space” agency to study climate change? But that’s what they’ve been doing for years because Democrats have politicized it. That’s why we no longer have a manned space program, and have to rely on Russia to get our people to the ISS which we’ve mostly paid for.
They do other things besides study climate change, so they are developing information other than climate that the GOP doesn't like:
Depicting the growth of Mountaintop mining
Depicting growth of Vegas and a shrinking Lake Powell
Development in the Amazon
Growth of dead/dying zones on the coasts.
Algae blooms in the Great Lakes
Depleting aquifers.
There is a misconception that this is applicable only to the earth. They were able to map Mars only because they had already developed the technology by mapping earth. If you want to study moisture content of Mar's surface, try it first on the earth.
Of the total budget, they don't spend that much on this. The GOP is mad because under Obama, Bush's funding cuts have been restored.