"He was looking to eliminate $200 billiondollars from the discretionary budget," saysMatthews,

Rep. John R. Kasich (R-Ohio), chair of theHouse Budget Committee, has also released hisversion of the fiscal year 1996 budget draft,recently passed by the House.

In the Science, Space and Technology sector ofKasich's proposed budget, which does not includefunding for the National Institutes of Health(NIH), the Senate would cut $7 billion over thenext seven years while the House would cut $10billion.

With these cuts, the National ScienceFoundation would maintain fairly constant fundinglevels while programs of the National Aeronauticsand Space Administration and the Department of theInterior would see significant losses.

Walker has suggested restricting governmentfunding to specific types of research, including:

. Long-term, non-commercial research anddevelopment aimed at curiosity-driven researchwith some potential for later commercialization,

. Private-sector research only for the purposeof demonstrating technical feasibility (nogovernment dollars for product development),

. Government in-house research in fields inwhich government laboratories are unrivaled intechnical expertise and facilities.

Walker also suggests that all research anddevelopment should be relevant and focused closelyto the funding agency's mission.

National Institutes of Health

When Domenici's budget was passed by theSenate, the NIH was looking at a cut of at least$1.1 billion next year, roughly 10 percent of theagency's funding. The House of the agency'sfunding. The House version of the budget proposeda $500 million cut for the NIH next year.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass.)expressed doubt early last month about the successof NIH cuts.

"I do not believe that major cuts at NIH willbe successful," Kennedy told The Crimson. "Wewould be failing to take advantage of the programswe have that work very well. It would be asignificant mistake to lose the... advantage ofthe significant position of the Massachusettseconomy and the American economy."

And more recently, Sen. Mark O. Hatfield(R-Ore.), chair of the Senate AppropriationsCommittee, introduced two amendments to thebudget, either one of which would partiallyrestore the 10 percent cut in NIH funding assumedin the Domenici budget, leaving a cut of $1.7billion over the next seven years.

The only difference in the amendments is thatthe first offers across the-board cuts of 0.25percent in all discretionary spending (excludinghealth and labor) whereas the second, co-authoredby Senators Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and Nancy LandonKassebaum (R-Kan.), also excludes defense, leavinga 0.58 percent cut for non-defense items. TheSenate recently passed the second amendment 85-14,thereby restoring almost all NIH funding for 1996.