Jan 21 1976
From The Space Library
President Ford sent a $394.2-billion FY 1977 budget request to Congress, an increase of $44.8 billion over the FY 1976 request; however, comparisons were distorted by the switch this year to a new federal budget calendar. (FY 1976 would end as usual on 30 June, but FY 1977 would not start until 1 Oct.; for the "transition quarter," July through Sept., the budget would run about $98 billion, revenues at $81.9 billion, and the deficit at $16.1 billion. The change appeared in the Budget Reform Act of 1974, to give the Congress more time after it convened in Jan. each year to adopt a budget for the coming fiscal year.)
The budget attempted to explain "what went wrong" when an estimated national deficit of $9.4 billion turned out as an actual deficit of $43.6 billion; in FY 1975, the last completed fiscal year, spending totaled $324.6 billion ($20 billion more than anticipated), whereas receipts were only $281 billion, compared with an original estimate of $295 billion, the difference partly owing to an antirecession tax rebate enacted toward the end of the fiscal year. The biggest single factor-$6.5 billion spent in unemployment compensation-resulted from the recession unforeseen early in 1974; apart from higher unemployment payments under the existing program, Congress had extended benefits and coverage, accounting for $1.5 billion of the increase. The budget said that most of the discrepancy "can be explained by differences between actual and assumed economic conditions and the effects of new legislation." The NYT commented that "total figures for outlays, receipts, and the deficit in the [budget] document submitted at the beginning of each year for the fiscal year to follow have become increasingly meaningless." In a press briefing on his budget, President Ford stated his intent to "restrain the growth of federal spending and restore the vitality of the private economy." This was expected to be the keystone of his campaign for reelection. Total federal outlays under the proposed budget would increase 5.5% over the current fiscal year, less than half the average annual growth in federal spending over the past 10 yr. Largest percentage increase in the budget again would be in the field of energy research; aside from defense, increased spending in areas such as mass transit and water pollution would represent work on programs already begun rather than new starts.
Highlights of the budget were: (r) Increased defense spending of about $10 billion, exceeding $100 billion for the first time.
Increased Social Security payments by employers and employees, to close the gap between income and outgo.
A proposal for consolidating about 60 current federal programs in areas such as health, education, child nutrition, and social services-into "block grants" to the states, with few strings attached.
Proposed spending for defense represented a turnaround of sorts: defense spending had fallen for a while after Vietnam, then rose again in FY 1975 with the end of the draft and conversion to higher priced all-volunteer armed forces with an upward pressure on wages. The outlay in FY 1977 would be for weapons; more than half the recommended increase would go for procurement, research, and development. Defense at $101.1 billion would constitute a fourth of the total budget, as in recent years, and Social Security about another fifth. Interest on the public debt would add a tenth; these three items would account for more than half. Five other basic budget items-Medicare-Medicaid, unemployment compensation, civil service retirement, and veterans benefits-would make up three fourths of the total, leaving only a fourth of the total budget for all remaining government spending.
Science, represented by $23.5 billion in federal R&D spending proposed for FY 1977, would use more than half that amount for military projects; the space program would get $3.6 billion, only 4% more than the current year and much less than price escalation. Highest priorities for increases in civilian spending on science would be colleges and universities, which would get $2.6 billion in research funds, and the National Science Foundation, which would get $812 million. NASA, under the proposed budget, would postpone purchase of one of the Space Shuttles for a year, and would drop its plan for a Mars-Jupiter-Saturn explorer. At the height of spending for the Apollo program 10 yr ago, civilian and nonspace science got 20% of R&D funding; in FY 1977, it would get 37%. (W Star, 21 Jan 76, A-1, A-14, A-11; W Post, 22 Jan 76, A-1, A-14, A-15, A-16; NYT, 22 Jan 76, 1, 24, 25, 26)
At a hearing on solar power from satellites conducted by the subcommittee on aerospace technology and national needs of the Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences, NASA Deputy Administrator George M. Low and Dr. John M. Teem, ERDA's Assistant Administrator for Solar, Geothermal, and Advanced Energy Systems, were questioned closely by Sen. Wendell H. Ford (D-Ky), subcommittee chairman, on the ERDA and NASA responsibilities for the program. Testimony revealed that ERDA had prime responsibility for solar, as well as other, power-generating concepts, and that NASA had not requested funds for developing an independent program but was working on solar-power ideas to use in satellite missions. Primary goal of ERDA's program, Dr. Teem testified, was development and demonstration of terrestrial solar-energy applications that were commercially attractive and environmentally acceptable: solar thermal electric, photovoltaic, wind, and ocean-energy conversion. Dr. Teem pointed out that the FY 1977 budget included no direct funding for energy R&D for NASA, as the basic responsibility rested with ERDA. Dr. Low added that, when ERDA decided that research should proceed, NASA would do the work with ERDA funding. (Text, pp. 192-227)
Flight tests by the Air Force had confirmed the concept called LATAR (laser-augmented target acquisition and recognition) that would permit a pilot in a high-performance single-seat fighter to fly the aircraft and operate its weaponry at the same time. The LATAR pod, mounted under the fuselage of an F-5E directly beneath the cockpit, contained a laser target designator, a spot tracker, and an electro-optical sensor. The spot tracker was a device that finds a laser "spot" from another target designator operated from another aircraft or on the ground; initial target identification could be either visual, by radar, or by a helmet-mounted sight system that integrated sight control with movement of the pilot's head. The flight tests were conducted at the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, Calif. (01P Release 308.75)
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