Culligan in Reuter’s article: Cutting moon rocket would test Musk's power to slash jobs in Republican states

“Recent advances in SpaceX's development of Starship, which is reusable and expected to be far cheaper than current rockets, have galvanized the anti-SLS critics, arguing Musk's rocket can effectively do the same tasks at a fraction of the price.

“But SLS supporters say that, unlike Musk's Starship, it has already flown successfully in its operational form and that its power to lift heavy objects into space in a single launch is greater than the multiple launches required by a reusable Starship to carry similar weight.

"You'd be giving up the world's only capability to get astronauts to the moon, which would be a definite disruption to U.S. leadership in space," said Tom Culligan, the former top lobbyist at Boeing's space unit.

https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/cutting-moon-rocket-would-test-musks-power-slash-jobs-republican-states-2025-02-12/