South China Morning Post isn’t an amazingly trustworthy source, but it seems that they’re right in this instance. Though it’s annoying that they refuse to fully capitalise “NASA”.
However, the approval is by no means formal. There’s no public statement from NASA or from NSPIRES, the division responsible for it, and it appears it’s just an internal email/statement telling scientists to put a claim in before the applications close on 22 Dec. As of yet, NASA have merely signalled their intent to Congress and told scientists to submit applications, it could well be that (the Republican controlled) Congress blocks it.