WASHINGTON The House of Representatives gets a second crack at NASAs Fiscal Year 2000 budget Friday when the full Appropriations Committee meets at 9:30am EDT on Capitol Hill. The committee will approve or modify the VA-HUD and Independent Agencies subcommittee mark that slashed space agency accounts more than 10 percent from the administration requests. Heaviest hit in the action last Monday was the civil space agencys space science programs and probes. House supporters have been quietly working to shore up support both within the full committee was well in the remainder of the house membership. If the $1.3 billion in cuts are sustained by the committee vote Friday, the full House must approve the bill on the floor next week. Supporters hope to restore all or part of the reduced funds at that time if they fail to do so Friday.

The Senate appears willing to wait until the entire Congress returns from its summer recess to make its own version of the NASA bill, Congressional sources said. If the Senate Appropriations Committee delays its markup of the NASA budget until early September, space agency supporters will have a critical extra month to rally support. Should both the House and Senate approve the cuts, President Bill Clinton still must sign the legislation to make it federal law. Some are urging a presidential veto of the bill if it arrives on the White House desk with the cuts, a likelihood that many believe remote considering the additions to veterans medical accounts and other spending that the bill would contain. NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin was believed to be lobbying hard for his agency, unusual for the feisty administrator. Some are saying that Goldin is concerned that if the cuts are not reversed, he may be blamed as the NASA chief that presided over the virtual dismantling of his agency.