spacetoday.net: White House threatens to veto NASA budget

Posted: Sat, Jul 24, 2004, 3:17 PM ET (1917 GMT)
White House (J. Foust)

Senior White House officials have threatened to recommend to President Bush that he veto a budget bill that includes NASA unless cuts made in the NASA budget are restored. The warning came in a letter Thursday from Office of Management and Budget director Josh Bolten to Rep. C. W. Bill Young, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee; the letter's contents were first reported Friday. In the letter Bolten said that unless the House, among other things, restored the $1.1 billion in NASA's proposed 2005 budget that the committee cut earlier this week, that he and other senior advisors would recommend to Bush that he veto the entire bill. Bolten also expressed concern with cuts made to non-NASA programs in the bill, including AmeriCorps and a prisoner education program. Bush has not vetoed any legislation since entering office, and many believe that the letter is intended to prompt Congress to find ways to restore funding later in the legislation process. NASA's budget is contained within a $90-billion bill that includes funding for the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Housing and Urban Development, as well as other independent agencies, including the NSF and EPA. A veto would affect funding for all those programs, as well as NASA.