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OMB Upholds Smithsonian Cuts (the Washington Post)

By Jacqueline Trescott


The Bush administration informed the Smithsonian Institution yesterday that it plans to proceed with a series of dramatic cuts in the museum's fiscal 2003 budget.

The proposals would delay reopening two major museums for a year and strip the Smithsonian of much of its scientific research money.

The Office of Management and Budget has rejected a formal appeal by the Smithsonian of the controversial proposals in the next federal budget, according to officials at the Smithsonian who are familiar with the budget procedures.

In its response to the Smithsonian, the OMB said it was drafting a "war-winning budget."

"The president's next budget will focus on winning the war against terrorism and securing the homeland, while moderating the growth in overall spending and bringing back balanced budgets and surpluses," wrote Marcus Peacock, the OMB associate director for natural resource programs on Nov. 27.

In its assessment of the needs at the Smithsonian, OMB proposed shifting $35 million in science funds from the Smithsonian to the National Science Foundation. It would require the Smithsonian to stop work for one year on the restoration of the building that houses the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. The museums are already scheduled to be closed until 2005. OMB also asked that $20 million for new security measures be absorbed from current Smithsonian funds for security and salaries. 

Other reductions, according to the Smithsonian analysis, would eliminate lectures and other special programs at the newNational Air and Space facility at Dulles Airport and reduce by half the number of artifacts on display there. Officials at the Smithsonian said the budget reductions would also eliminate public lectures and educational programs at the National Museum of the American Indian and its storage facility in Suitland.

The disclosure that the administration was trying to cut the Smithsonian's budget ignited the anger of its congressional supporters, the museum community and the blue-ribbon commission studying science at the museum.

"This is not cost-cutting. It is based on a lack of understanding," said Jeremy A. Sabloff, the commission's chairman. Sabloff, the director of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, said the commission was sending a letter to the White House and OMB objecting to the cuts.

"Inexplicably, OMB proposes to disrupt excellent, productive scientific centers without cutting spending," he said. Under the OMB plan the funds for the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center would be transferred to the NSF.

In another letter to OMB, the Maryland congressional delegation, led by Sens. Paul Sarbanes and Barbara Mikulski, called the OMB proposal "foolish."

The American Association of Museums said the proposals were not only troubling but ill-timed. 

"It is sad to know that in these troubling times we are proposing dramatic cuts to an important symbol that is responsible for preserving our nation's history and culture," association president Edward H. Able Jr. said in a letter to OMB.

The final request from the White House is scheduled to be delivered to Congress on Feb. 1. 

The OMB proposals contradict a congressional order in the fiscal 2002 budget that nothing be altered at Smithsonian science centers until the blue-ribbon panel finishes its work late in 2002. 

Sabloff predicted: "If OMB doesn't change by the time of the president's budget, Congess wil

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