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Bush sights too high?

NZPA-Reuter

Washington

President George Bush has set his sights on the moon, Mars and beyond in a sweeping plan for a United States space programme, but such lofty plans could fall victim to congressional criticism and a budget squeeze.

i Some Congress members have called his visionary plans mere day-dreaming at a time of conflicting financial priorities, deficits of over SUSIOO billion ($1.71 billion) annually and his steadfast refusal to back any tax increases. Congressional critics estimated the cost of President Bush’s moon-and-Mars programme at SUS4OO billion. Mr Richard Darman, the director of President Bush’s Office of Management and Budget, said the cost might indeed be that high.

“I guess the bottom line is you can’t go to Mars on a credit card,” said the House Budget Committee’s chairman, Mr Leon Panetta, of California, reflecting some Democratic thinking. “This is one trip that has to be pay as you go.” Outlining his goals yesterday on the twentieth anniversary of the first manned lunar landing, President Bush said it was the most far-reaching space plan since President John Kennedy called in 1961 for Americans to be the first to step on the moon.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19890722.2.69.2

Bibliographic details

Press, 22 July 1989, Page 10

Word Count
196

Bush sights too high? Press, 22 July 1989, Page 10

Bush sights too high? Press, 22 July 1989, Page 10