About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline

LOG IN
LOG IN


NSIAD-92-155R 1 (1992-02-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacjyx0001 and id is 1 raw text is: .... 4 qeq GAO United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 National Security and International Affairs Division 145989 B-247693 February 19, 1992 The Honorable Albert Gore, Jr. Chairman, Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation United States Senate The Honorable Richard J. Durbin Chairman, Task Force on Defense, Foreign Policy, and Space Committee on the Budget House of Representatives To assist in your preparation for an accelerated budget resolution schedule, we are providing information from our ongoing review of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) 5-year program plans. NASA is overcommitted relative to likely resources--in short, it is chasing too much program with too few dollars. We estimate that if the current federal budget allocation for domestic discretionary spending continues to be constrained, NASA program plans will have to be reduced $13 billion to $21 billion through fiscal year 1997. As you know, caps mandated by the 1990 budget summit agreement allow domestic discretionary spending to grow by only the rate of inflation for the next several years. Further, congressional appropriators are restricted to their 602(b) allocation of domestic discretionary funding for the Departments of Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development, and Independent Agencies. This restriction may not allow inflation-sized increases for NASA. NASA's funding will depend on the actual size of the allocation and the needs of other agencies. For example, Congress was able to provide only a 3-percent increase to NASA for fiscal year 1992. Projecting from the fiscal year 1992-enacted NASA budget of $14.3 billion, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that full inflation increases would provide a 1993-97 funding baseline totaling $79.5 billion. Flat budgets would provide $71-5 billion. GAO/NSIAD-92-155R NASA 5-Year Planning