WASHINGTON (States News Service) -- A new congressional report says a U.S.-Russia panel chaired by Vice President Al Gore acted to "deny and cover up" escalating costs caused by Russian delays on the International Space Station (ISS).

The scathing, 209-page report on U.S.-Russia policy under the Clinton administration, authored by 12 powerful House Republicans, attempts to launch an election-year salvo against Gore by criticizing several aspects of eight years of military, economic and political issues in which the vice president played key roles.

The report devotes a chapter to the Gore-Chernomyrdin Commission, which forged a partnership on the space station in 1993, saying it was "deeply flawed" for bringing Russia into the space station although Russia was "economically and politically ill-prepared" in 1993.

Despite the delays and cost problems that ensued, (at a cost to U.S. taxpayers of $5 billion according to the report), Gore announced three years into the developing the ISS "an ambitious future schedule of cooperation in space as if the earlier schedule had never existed," the report said.

The report, while critical of the space station, offered no evidence that Gore or anyone else intentionally covered up delays or costs. But the commission is guilty of "willful blindness," the report said, when it came to ISS.

"Disregarding both the escalating costs for the United States and the Russian governments failure to meet its commitments, the commission has producedglowing statements about the health and vitality of U.S.-Russian space cooperation throughout each of the past seven years."

The report said the commission "served chiefly to deny and cover up the delays and cost overruns when they occurred," said the report.

Asked about the specific allegations regarding the space station and the Gore commission, Gore spokesman Jano Cabrera dismissed the findings in general as "clearly partisanly[sic] motivated."

"This is a partisan report and its not worth the taxpayer paper its playing on," he said. He added that Gore "helped Russia to reduce its nuclear arsenal and move it forward in democracy."

Congressional aides and Russia experts said the ISS is only a small part in the attempt by reports authors led by Rep. Christopher Cox (R-California) -- to tarnish Gores reputation by attacking Russia policy.

A post-Cold War initiative, the commission headed by Gore and Russias Viktor Chernomyrdin was meant to promote joint scientific and technical partnerships, with the space station billed in 1993 as its biggest triumph.

But despite warning signs of Russias cost problems especially when it froze work on its service module in 1996 Gore was resolutely in favor of keeping Russia in the critical path, a House congressional aide familiar with the report said on condition of anonymity

"When [the space station mission] looked great in 1995, Gore was taking credit for it," the aide said.

But Gores panel didnt listen when lawmakers, including Russia critic Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) raised concerns over cost problems in 1996 and 1997.

"In 1997, [Gore] basically said, 'Thanks for your concerns. We're not going to do anything differently,'" the aide said.

In fact, the administration and NASA have shifted away from their rosy predictions on the space station slightly in recent years.

Since 1998, NASA began to move toward a "customer-supplier relationship" with Russia, buying goods and services from Russian companies, said Tim Peterson, a House VA-HUD appropriations committee aide. Last year, the administration scrambled to build a backup control module in case the Russians failed to deliver their service module for the ISS after two years of delays.

These actions came as the total cost of the station jumped from $17.4 billion to $24.1 billion today.

NASA spokeswoman Kirsten Williams denied that Russia has burdened the ISS, and said the countrys vehicles helped speed the delivery of resident astronauts to the station from 2003 to this year.

"They bring many, many years of experience and it would cost U.S. taxpayers a lot of money to develop similar capabilities that the Russians already have and we have been able to take advantage of."

The Russians finally put the Zvezda service module into orbit this July, a major milestone that dampened the criticism in Washington. But some members of Congress are still upset and continue to point at the lost cost savings.

"If the vice president and others tout our relationship with Russia, and if he deserves some credit, he should certainly deserve some criticism for $5 billion in spending of taxpayer dollars on this project," said House Science Committee spokesman Jeff Lungren.

The administrations leniency towards Russia on the ISS, and the primary role in the mission played by Gore, have made the vice president a prime target for congressional critics of Russia.

The space station is "per se not an election-year issue," said Scott Pace, a space policy analyst at RAND. But it is "being scrutinized as part of U.S. policy towards Russia, and that is an election issue."