NASA Endures Tough Senate Appropriations Hearing
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Maryland), chair of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on VA/HUD/Independent Agencies, is a big NASA supporter, but she is also a realist. At a June 7 hearing on NASA’s fiscal year 1995 budget, she pulled no punches in describing her subcommittee’s budget situation. Facing what she called “our toughest year on record,” Mikulski reported that her subcommittee’s allocation was $316 million in outlays less than the comparable House subcommittee, and a severe $729 million below the President’s request for programs under her jurisdiction.
“I told the Vice President yesterday,” Mikulski said, “that without solutions from the Administration to make up this shortfall...NASA would end up no better than $13.7 billion,” an appropriation she thought “would do serious, and perhaps irreparable, harm to America’s space program.” She warned that such a budget might lead to $200 million in cuts to the space station program, $100 million from the shuttle program, and the possible termination of either the AXAF or Cassini science missions. (The fiscal 1995 request for NASA was $14.3 billion.)
Mikulski, limited in time by other Senate commitments, was abrupt with NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin, complaining minutes into his testimony that she did not have the text of his remarks. If NASA received only $13.7 billion (a reduction of $600 million from its request), she challenged him, “What cuts would you recommend?” Goldin responded that he had been asked by the House VA/HUD chairman, Louis Stokes (D-Ohio), to find $200 million in cuts (see FYI #69), and he was working with the Administration to do so. But with much deeper cuts, he said, “I’m concerned about the viability of a balanced space program; I think we’d lose one of the accounts.” With a $13.7 billion budget, he stated, NASA could not both build the space station and perform science.
What would be the consequences of canceling AXAF or Cassini, and which would NASA recommend for termination?, Mikulski asked. NASA Chief Scientist France Cordova said NASA would have to take the question to the science community. “But I’m asking you,” Mikulski snapped to the NASA officials in general. “Otherwise why have a hearing?”
Goldin answered that he didn’t have a rational way of choosing between the two projects. “If we have to pick one,” Mikulski warned, “we will.” She stressed that while she did not want to have to make such decisions either, she wanted a public discussion of the consequences. Phil Graham (R-Texas) echoed this, saying it was important “to let Members of Congress know that cuts have consequences.” Mikulski also made the point that NASA has already absorbed deep cuts and made significant sacrifices over the past years, although “some of my colleagues act like this is the first time.” “Some will say we’ve gone from fat to muscle,” she said; “I believe we’ve gone from fat to amputation.”
Mikulski did not have time to pursue further questions about space science or Mission to Planet Earth, but did voice several questions about the space station program. Goldin reiterated his belief that “we can do it for $17.4 billion,” and informed her that NASA hoped to conclude negotiations with Russia and the new prime contractor, Boeing, by early July. Mikulski asked whether her subcommittee would have those details before marking up the VA/HUD bill, probably during the week of July 11. Her goal, she said, was to get her bill through the floor before the Senate recessed on August 15. Goldin promised to get the data to her in time. He also promised, in response to a request by Graham, to develop a “decision tree” showing what programs NASA would cut based on the level of funding the agency received.
Mikulski assured Goldin that she was “talking to the highest levels of the Administration about additional sources of revenue,” and promised she would do all she could. Whether she will be able to squeeze additional money out of a tight budget to help fund NASA’s programs remains to be seen. In the meantime, Stokes’ House subcommittee plans to mark up its version of the VA/HUD spending bill on June 9.
