Budget cuts could hurt science but likely won't

Abstract

The 5.3% across-the-board budget cut ordered by President Bush on Oct. 16 could cost civilian research funding agencies millions of dollars in fiscal 1990. But hardly anybody expects that actually to happen. Bush also ordered a 4.3% cut for defense programs. His actions were dictated by Office of Management & Budget calculations that showed the fiscal 1990 deficit would exceed the mandatory Gramm-Rudman- Hollings deficit target of $100 billion by $16.1 billion, resulting from Congress' failure to enact a so-called reconciliation bill that met the deficit target. The first, and only other, sequester order, which was issued in 1986, provoked cries of anguish and led to real reductions in agency budgets. This order has had no such effect. Spokesmen for most federal departments and agencies say it's business as usual. For example, when asked what effect the sequester order would have on his agency, National Science Foundation budget division director Joseph L. Hull responded: That's ...