House Appropriations Subcommittee Hears NASA’s FY95 Budget Request

Facing the House Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD/Independent Agencies on May 17 and 18, NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin received unanimous praise for his management reforms of the past year, and rigorous questioning on the agency’s fiscal year 1995 budget request. Although NASA’s proposed $14.3 billion budget represents the first requested decrease for the space agency in decades, chairman Louis Stokes (D-Ohio) pointed out that his subcommittee’s 602(b) allocation was at least $400 million in outlays below what would be needed to fund the President’s request, especially with increases for veterans’ and housing programs (see FYI #66). He asked Goldin point-blank how the space agency would deal with a $200 million cut, either to the total budget or to its human space flight programs (e.g., the space station and shuttle.)

Goldin’s response to a general reduction was: “I don’t think anything’s impossible.” He refused to elaborate, preferring to say that NASA would work with Congress and the Administration on finding savings. He argued against a $200 million reduction to human space flight activities, saying the space station program had commitments with other countries, and it would be unsafe to cut any more from the shuttle. He estimated termination costs of the international space station at $750 million, versus $17.4 billion (of U.S. funding) to build. When questioned about the firmness of that number, which represents $2 billion in savings over the station without Russian participation, Goldin replied, “NASA believes we can build it for $17.4 billion.” He said the agency also had contingency plans in case political changes within Russia caused their withdrawal from the program.

Goldin also assuaged concerns Stokes raised about U.S. job loss, the Russian launch site, use of Russian hardware, a higher station orbit, and user power availability. He confirmed that the international space station would require 34 flights and an estimated 435 hours of American extra-vehicular activity (EVA) to assemble. He admitted that this was more than the 365 hours of EVA estimated to build the earlier Freedom version, but said NASA was trying to bring the number down to 350 hours.

Stokes inquired about the paucity of new starts planned for space science. Goldin related his promise to the space science community that if they were able to free up $100-150 million within their budget for new starts, he would search the rest of the NASA budget in future years for a dollar-for-dollar match. Discussion included having new space science starts compete for funding with the extension of current missions, and the prospect of letting the university and industry communities take over some mission operations tasks.

Given the shortfall in Stokes’ allocation, and the needs of the competing VA and HUD programs, it is questionable whether NASA programs will be funded at a level near the request. House Science Committee chairman George Brown (D-California) has indicated that if funding levels fall too low, he will abandon his support for the space station, probably taking other votes with him. A recent news report claims that House appropriators are discussing using some defense funds to help support the space station program, and hopefully maintain Brown’s support, but this remains to be seen.