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Shuttle's loss adds to Bush's burden with budget battle and possible war
February 3, 2003

Washington, DC — (AP) - The loss of the space shuttle Columbia adds a new element to President Bush's already bulging portfolio of issues, including rallying a divided nation and world behind war with Iraq and promoting a budget facing certain challenges. Bush juggled his schedule to make time for a meeting with NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe and to fly to a memorial service in Houston, but aides denied any link between the Columbia catastrophe and the other items on the president's agenda this week.

"The president views this as a tragedy that has touched the lives of the American people, and as a reminder of the risks of space flight," spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "The president does not see it as connected to other events around the world."

Bush spoke with the leaders of Pakistan, Spain and India on Sunday, juggling condolence calls with efforts to build support for military action against Iraq.

He arranged to meet with O'Keefe on Monday, underscoring the priority the White House places on finding answers to the cause of the accident that destroyed the homebound shuttle and killed its seven crew members.

Appearing on the CBS program "The Early Show" before his meeting with Bush, O'Keefe said he would tell the president that NASA is doing everything possible "to secure the evidence" to determine what caused the accident and would "make corrections and get back to flight."

Also Monday, the White House was releasing the administration's tax and spending request for the 2004 fiscal year that begins next Oct. 1. The budget proposal offers a string of deficits for five years, with cuts in some popular programs and growth in others.

A senior administration official, speaking Sunday night on condition of anonymity, said the new spending plan would propose increasing the space agency's funding by about 3 percent to nearly $15.5 billion next year.

What happened yesterday I think is the price that we pay for exploration, it's the price that we pay for the freedom that God has granted all of us. - Rev. Luis Leon

The overall budget envisions record deficits of $307 billion this year and $304 billion in 2004, officials said. The $2.23 trillion budget proposal does not take into account the tens of billions of dollars it would cost to invade Iraq.

Bush planned to emphasize in a Monday afternoon event his request for $6 billion over a decade for vaccines and treatments against biological weapons, such as anthrax and plague.

On Tuesday, he resumes a role he learned after the Sept. 11 terror attacks - that of mourner in chief.

The president and first lady Laura Bush are to fly to the Johnson Space Center near Houston for a memorial service for the seven astronauts killed Saturday.

The situation in Iraq also takes center stage this week.

Bush plans to meet with the prime minister of Poland on Wednesday, the same day Secretary of State Colin Powell goes before the U.N. Security Council to present purported evidence of prohibited Iraqi weapons programs.

Making room in his Tuesday schedule for the memorial service, Bush moved up his meeting with the king of Bahrain to Monday evening. Iraq is the focus of that sessions.

The president listened intently in church Sunday as a minister said he had heard others say the shuttle's breakup was "God's way of getting back at us" for Bush's Iraq policies.

"That's hokum. That's just garbage," said the Rev. Luis Leon, rector of St. John's Church across Lafayette Square from the White House. "What happened yesterday I think is the price that we pay for exploration, it's the price that we pay for the freedom that God has granted all of us."

After delivering an emotional televised statement Saturday on the shuttle disaster, Bush kept a public silence Sunday. But he was briefed on the tragedy throughout the day by chief of staff Andrew Card, who gathered with other officials in the White House Situation Room to monitor developments.

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