NASA faces big spending cuts

The House Appropriations Committee is planning to cut as much as $1 billion from President Bush's budget request for NASA, as part of a $92.9 billion fiscal 2005 VA-HUD appropriations bill to be marked up Tuesday.

That total is $2.1 billion over last year's enacted levels for the dozens of programs and agencies under the measure's jurisdiction, and a $2.5 billion increase is pledged to veterans' health care programs alone.

The pain is evenly spread in the VA-HUD bill, including for lawmakers' treasured earmarked projects -- which would see a 2 percent decrease from last year, a committee aide said.

The NASA cuts would erase the administration's proposed $900 million increase over last year's enacted level of $15.4 billion and cut the agency's budget slightly below that for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Most of the increases would have gone to the International Space Station and shuttle operations, including the president's Mars exploration initiative.

The decision to slice deeply into one of Bush's signature programs should not come as a surprise, as lawmakers have warned for months that record deficits were likely to prevent a dramatic new space exploration program from getting off the ground this year.

The final version will be written in conference, most likely after the November elections. But the extent of the cuts to be unveiled today reflects the lean budgetary realities faced by appropriators, and the need to shift available funds to programs popular on both sides of the aisle, such as veterans' health care.

House VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman James Walsh, R-N.Y., is proposing to boost veterans' health care funding by $1.2 billion over the president's request to $31 billion, representing a $2.5 billion increase over last year.

As in previous years, the panel will also reject new fees and co-payments for veterans to recoup cost increases. But Democrats and veterans' advocates argue that even that hefty increase is not enough to keep pace with inflation and the demand for healthcare services, which could be a potent argument in an election year.

Another hot-button issue Walsh must deal with this year is the Section 8 rent subsidy program for low-income families, which the administration has proposed to cut by $1.1 billion to $13.3 billion in fiscal 2005 while allowing local housing authorities flexibility in parceling out grant funds.

Walsh is not expected to go along with the White House proposal, although the voucher program may escape cuts expected to other HUD Department programs.

While opposing the White House in a number of areas, House appropriators went along with a proposed 7 percent cut to the Environmental Protection Agency budget, which received almost $8.4 billion last year. The House panel would shave an additional $36 million for good measure from the president's $7.76 billion request, which slashed earmarked projects as well as about $492 million for grants to states for water infrastructure projects.