
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 14, 1990                   TAG: 9006140501
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A/6   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

DEMOCRATS OPPOSE BUSH ON NASA

Congressional Democrats are likely to react negatively if the Bush administration tries to use high-level budget talks to help shield the space agency from spending cuts.

Officials said Wednesday that the White House will ask congressional negotiators at the talks to give special treatment to the space program, which is one of President Bush's top domestic priorities.

But following the latest session of the bargaining on Wednesday, Democrats said opposition was likely if the administration wants its favorite programs singled out for protection from budget slashes.

"We've had a lot of committee chairmen who say, `Hey, I want mine' " protected as well, said Sen. Wyche Fowler, D-Ga., a budget negotiator.

Officials speaking on condition they not be identified said the White House would propose that negotiators work out a specific spending figure for next year's budget for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

In budget summits of past years, administration and congressional officials agreed to a single spending amount covering thousands of domestic programs, including NASA. The budgets for individual agencies were then determined by Congress during the regular legislative process.

Bush would thus greatly enhance his role in determining NASA's budget if it is negotiated directly between White House and congressional negotiators.

That would be important to the administration because Congress does not want to increase the space agency's budget by as much as the president would like.

The administration's proposal to consider NASA separately would also leave the thousands of remaining domestic programs vulnerable to cuts that may be agreed to by budget bargainers. Negotiators are looking for ways to shrink next year's federal deficit by $45 billion to $60 billion.

In his budget for fiscal 1991, beginning Oct. 1, Bush proposed giving NASA $15.2 billion, a 24 percent increase over this year's $12.3 billion. That was the largest increase requested for any of the government's major agencies.

NASA would receive $14 billion next year under a spending blueprint approved in May by the House. A separate plan developed by the Senate Budget Committee last month would give the agency $14.2 billion.

by CNB