The Senate Budget Committee voted March 4 to trim about $600 million from President George W. Bush's $16.2 billion request for NASA. The Budget Committee's budget resolution sets the guidelines for Senate appropriators responsible for crafting the 13 annual spending bills that fund the federal government.

Bush wants to increase NASA's 2004 budget of $15.4 billion by $800 million next year to serve as a downpayment on a new exploration agenda that aims to send humans back to the moon as early as 2015 in preparation for more ambitious missions to Mars and beyond.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Don Nickles (Okla.), in a paper released Monday detailing the committee's 2005 budget resolution, said the committee "supports the president's vision for exploration and discovery [but] the current budget situation necessitates slower implementation."

The 1.4 percent increase recommended by the committee would give NASA $15.6 billion for 2005, about $200 million more than this year.

The Senate Appropriations VA-HUD and Independent Agencies subcommittee is holding a hearing Thursday on the space agency's budget. NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is scheduled to testify.