WASHINGTON NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin has ordered the space agencys field centers to prepare lists of personnel and programs that could be cut next year if the agencys Fiscal Year 2001 budget isnt raised, sources in the agencys field centers tell space.com.

"He has told the center directors that his top priorities are facilities and safety, not people," the source claims. The space agency is currently just starting the process of building its proposals for the Fiscal 2001 round of budget numbers, due for completion in September. The administrators proposed budget is submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for approval.

OMB has rejected Goldins budget proposals for the last five years, substituting lower figures instead, the source said. "We dont expect any more money than we got the last time, and if we did it wouldnt go to (our) programs anyway," the source said Thursday.

NASAs budget of $13 billion, has remained flat or shrunk since 1996 and has sharply declined to about half the size of its 1992 numbers, adjusted for inflation. There is also increasing pressure on the agencys Fiscal year 2000 budget, which may have to be cut because of the fast-approaching federal budget spending caps approved in the 1995 balanced-budget agreement between the Clinton White House and the Republican Congress.

If those amounts arent raised to permit more spending for programs and unexpected developments such as the Kosovo War, agencies like NASA may have to cut spending to keep the overall federal budget under the agreed-upon limits.

Cost overruns caused by delays in the Russian components to the International Space Station are also eating into NASAs budget plans, leaving little room for new initiatives such as increased spending for space transportation programs, science satellite probes, and long term research.