He spent countless hours during his four-year tenure pleading the agency's case while Congressional appropriators cut its budget.

The Comanche was a relatively easy program to kill because it had only limited support among military service chiefs, defense contractors and Congressional appropriators.

Contractors who do business with the federal government routinely contribute to the campaigns of Congressional appropriators, and politicians frequently assist constituents in their efforts to win government contracts.

Mitchell E. Daniels Jr., the director of the Office of Management and Budget, has told Congressional appropriators that they have enough money already and should ask for more when they think they need it.

The provision will prevent Congressional appropriators from using money designated for highway and transit projects for budget balancing or other programs, a typical practice of the past.

"The mystery to me is the way they are able to promise returns," Mr. Utt said, pointing to the revolving door between Congressional appropriators' payrolls and lobby shops, as well as to lobbyists' generous campaign contributions.

Worse, its ability to function is placed each year at the mercy of Congressional appropriators, so the agency lacks the independence it needs to be a meaningful regulator.

Under the agreement reached last week between Donna E. Shalala, secretary of health and human services, and a bipartisan group of Congressional appropriators, new federal rules governing organ allocation would take effect by late December or early January.

The squeeze would mean less money for Congressional appropriators to spend on home-state projects, and Mr. Byrd said he had been blunt with senators who have asked him for special appropriations for their states.

Congressional appropriators have proposed another $25 billion for defense, education and emergencies for the 2002 budget year.