Well you have identified the problem, Congress. NASA is nothing more than a political tool to spread money. Like Amtrak, NASA will never be really successful because of politicians controlling it.
98 billion budget for 40 year old technology and it still doesn’t fly.
Give Elon Musk that budget and stay out of the way and he would more likely be on the way to Mars by now.
They’ll spend a trillion dollars if it gets the first black woman on the moon