no, they aren't expecting this to pass.
They're expecting the Republicans to refuse to vote for it, then they'll say "look! The Republicans won't fund nasa! Look how they're screwing over NASA! Those evil terrible Republicans! How can they not vote on such a sensible bill that allows contractors to work with NASA? REPUBLICANS WANT TO DESTROY NASA! And they're against voter rights too! Republicans want to destroy nasa and stop black people from voting!"
and a of their followers will look no deeper than CNN/MSNBC who keep repeating this. They'll eat it right up. And as far as they know, it's just another example of evil Republicans trying to screw people over.
It'll work as intended.