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President Clinton Signs NASA Budget
By Jonathan Lipman
Special to space.com
posted: 01:24 pm ET
20 October 1999
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NASA Budget FinalizedWASHINGTON (States News Service) - President Clinton made next year's NASA budget law at about 1 p.m. today when he signed the VA-HUD and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill, allocating $13.65 billion to the space agency. This figure totals out to $74 million above President Clinton's request for fiscal year 2000, and $25 million below the 1999 level. The bill was passed after months of threatened cuts to the space agency. The final conference between the House, which had funded NASA at $900 million below the White House request, and the Senate, which had not made any cuts to the total program, resulted in an unexpected boost to overall funding, including several earmarked spending requirements. Congress mandated increases in several programs, including aviation safety research and future space transportation programs like the X-33 and its potential successors. "Essentially the earmarks are the biggest issue, and we're going to have to trim back other projects because of those," said NASA spokesman Doug Isbell. The bill still contains cuts to space science programs, though exact details are difficult to discern among the complex budgeting methods used to avoid exceeding Congressionally mandated spending limits. Congressional sources said the total cut to space science was $45 million, but NASA's space science division pegged it at least $60 million. "We're going to lean towards delaying things rather than cutting things," Isbell said. "Compared to where we were when we started, it's a relief."
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