House science panel head outlines goals

23 REUTERS  12-14-94 07:13 PET                 43 LINES

BC-CONGRESS-SCIENCE

House science panel head outlines goals

WASHINGTON (Reuter) - The incoming Republican head of the House Science
Committee Wednesday said he would seek incentives for expanded private-sector
involvement in space and would strive to ensure that U.S.-funded projects met
scientific, not political, criteria.

Pennsylvania Republican Robert Walker, at a news conference outlining his
plans for next year, said some programs would be ''defunded'' or
``de-authorized'' but said he had not made up his mind yet about where he
would seek specific cuts.

Walker also said he remains committed to the U.S. space station and, despite
reservations about some specific NASA programs, believes funding for space
should at least keep pace with inflation.

``As far as I'm concerned, it's certainly safe,'' he said of the space
station, an expensive and ambitious project that has already been scaled back
and redesigned because of costs.

But he said he has questions about the value of NASA's ''Mission to Planet
Earth,'' environmentally oriented research being carried out on a series of
space shuttle missions, and about global warming research.

``This is not a public works committee, where we come up with
rationalizations'' for ``pork barrel'' projects or research that is designed
for political reasons, he said.

``We'll move aggressively to create commercial opportunities in space,'' he
said, adding that he had already started preliminary talks with colleagues on
the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee.

He also said he wanted the research centers that the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration has around the country to develop closer ties or
affiliations with universities.

But he also pledged that the committee would continue a tradition of
bipartisanship, and said he hoped the panel could cooperate with White House
science advisers because he, incoming House Speaker Newt Gingrich and
President Clinton were all ''kind of technonuts.''

-- End