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At the urging of university lobbyists, Congress set aside $10 million in the NASA budget for extra instruments on two optical telescopes: a coronagraph for Gemini, which is being built in Chile, and an optical technology test-bed for a telescope at Steward Observatory in Arizona. But NASA had not requested funding for these devices and is already investing in similar technologies to search for extrasolar planets, according to a White House statement. Several other NASA budget items that were added by lawmakers survived Clinton's scrutiny, however. Those pork projects--unlike the telescope earmark--had strong backing from legislators whose districts and states would benefit from them.

But whether the line-item veto will stand isn't certain. The Supreme Court could hear a case on its constitutionality, while the Senate last week voted overwhelmingly to reject similar vetoes in the defense bill. It's not clear whether the House will follow suit, or has the votes to override the president's line-item vetoes.