It seems like no one is hold Boeing accountable for completing the project with the given budget. And to add insult to injury, Boeing is being improperly awarded tens of millions of dollars for performance fees the company has not earned [1]. If a project is failing, just cut your loses and scrap it. This political pork spending doesn't help anyone excited about space exploration.
What guarantees do tax payers have that the money won't be wasted at SpaceX just as it's wasted at Boeing?
Why not scrap it, and just save the money. Full stop.
If Boeing and SpaceX are not able to do their things without NASA continuously pumping new billions into them, then we should take a step back, reevaluate, and consider a total rehaul of the future roadmap. Because obviously things aren't working.
But we're not at that point yet. The only thing we've proven thus far is that giving out lots and lots of money does not seem to solve the problem of project setbacks.
NASA has little say in the matter, this is a congressionally mandated project. NASA didn't want it, but it turns out to funnel money into mostly the same companies that were getting money for the Shuttle program, and congress loved that so now NASA has to make do with what they are given.
