Some people thought the president of the United States was named Ronald Wilson Clinton when the fiscal 1995 federal budget went to Congress last week. With times tight and funding fights looming over health care and welfare reform, the $1.52 trillion plan aims to pare hundreds of programs and to cut 115 outright. But like his predecessors, Clinton will have hard going. Below is a dirty dozen of programs due for cuts. U.S. News will revisit them as the process grinds on.   

PROGRAMS/CUTS  Appalachian Regional Commission  Amount: $62 million  PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  It is either worthless pork or the fount of much-needed public works grants. Watch West Virginia's Sen. Robert Byrd -- and 25 other senators and 60 House members who represent the area.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Sikorsky military helicopters  Amount: $689 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  The Navy says it can't spare the Connecticut-based firm's copters. Sen. Joseph Lieberman may find a compromise.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Transit operating subsidies  Amount: $202 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Clinton wants to shift some money that helps keep fares low over to transit capital improvements, but there's a red flag: Commuters may have to pay an average of 23 percent more.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Safe-boating grants  Amount: $32 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Help states fund Coast Guard boating-safety programs. Clinton may be in deep here: Watch for only partial cuts.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Low-income home-energy assistance   Amount: $707.4 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Clinton wants to slim down heating assistance for the poor. Do Guam and the Virgin Islands really need it? But Congress will find it hard to cut back on anyone out in the cold.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Education for Native Hawaiians  Amount: $8.2 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Hawaii's congressional delegation is ready to press hard to keep support for native education from the preschool level through college.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Oilseed export subsidies  Amount: $50 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Lobbying by the sunflower and cottonseed industries could keep this afloat. But congressional support is weakening, and the push to ease trade barriers might force a scale-back.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Rural Electrification Administration  Amount: $51 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Power and phone firms are in a huff about more cuts in loans to hook up rural areas, where service is unprofitable. And a cutback might hurt Al Gore's much loved info superhighway.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Library construction  Amount: $17.8 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Since it provides for refurbishing existing public libraries, this isn't a big sacred cow. Congress might cut it.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Community block development grants  Amount: $240 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  A fight is coming over plans to shift some money into other programs that give mayors less control over housing and infrastructure-repair projects.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Impact Aid for military dependents  Amount: $123.1 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  School districts get paid for lost property taxes of military dependents living on base. Rarely gets cut as much as presidents want.    


PROGRAMS/CUTS  Columbia River  Amount: $18.6 million 

PROSPECTS OR PITFALLS  Maybe others can pay to help the river, salmon and fishermen. Still, a hard cut, given environmental concerns (story, Page 65).