OK, I'll bite, how would NASA using Russia or China (however unlikely the latter is) benefit anyone in NASA or the U.S. congress, eg, Shelby*? Is it not the case that the only reliance on Russia under NASA's current plan is crew ferry to and from the ISS during 2011-2015? Surely this is nothing more than minor and temporary hurt to the pride of U.S. space expertise? No technical transfer, no hit to unmanned spaceflight, where 90%** of the science is done anyway?
*Apart from saving money in NASA and giving it to other US domestic programs, giving a different distribution of US Fed money. And do you mean Richard Shelby?
**Number is a guess, but all they do is crystal, plasma and minor biology research on the ISS/SpaceHab.