"We ought to be providing for investments inthe nation's future," says U.S. Rep. Joseph P.Kennedy II (D-Mass.) "[Financial and cuts] areunbelievably short-sighted."

"In cutting the deficit, [the Republicans] arebeing penny wise and pound foolish by cutting backon education, which is important in order to movethe United States forward," Sasser said.

U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy '54-'56 (D-Mass).has been a leading opponent of the proposed cutsin financial aid and in recent weeks has sharplycriticized the GOP for their plans.

"Senator Kennedy views it as a trade-offbetween education and tax breaks for the nation'swealthiest citizens, and it's a trade-off he isnot willing to support," said an aide to Kennedyon the Senate Labor and Human Resources Committee.

Miller added, "Sen. Kennedy has been quitewonderful in trying to stem the tide of cutbacksfor federal student financial aid."

But Harvard financial aid officials realizethat they are facing an uphill battle in trying toprevent the passage of cuts in federal financialaid.

"Everyone recognizes that there is a budgetcrunch, but we have to persuade Congress thateducation is important...the pay-off is enormous,"Miller said.

Cuts in Science Research

In their plans for a balanced budget by theyear 2002, Republicans have also proposed cuttingfederal funding for civilian scientific research.

The Republican budget blueprint, according tothe Democrats on the House Committee on Science,would cut spending on civilian science research bya total of $24 billion between the years 1996 and2000.

Under the House Budget Resolution, $7 billionwould be cut over five years from the Departmentof Energy's applied and basic research anddevelopment programs.

Research and development at the EnvironmentalProtection Agency would be cut from $577.1 millionto $490 million under the proposed budget.

The National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration (NASA) will see its budget dropfrom $14 billion to $11.7 million by the year 2000and the National Institutes of Health, thenation's leader in biomedical research, will seeits budget drop from $11.3 billion this year to$10.7 billion in fiscal year 1996.

"The cuts are terrible," said Rick Borchelt,assistant to the director for communications atthe White House Office of Science and technology."The republicans are building up an education anda research deficit that is every bit as heinous asa budget deficit."

At the top of the House Republicans' list is aplan to eliminate three Cabinet departments:Commerce, Education and Energy.