Smithsonian Fears Impact of Budget Cut : Museums: National Gallery of Art may also have to close two or three days a week if 32% government-wide decrease is instituted.

The Smithsonian Institution and the National Gallery of Art said Monday that they will be forced to close their doors for two or three days a week if a government-wide 32% budget cut goes into effect at the beginning of October. But there is widespread doubt that the gloomy scenario will materialize.

Like other federal agencies, the Smithsonian was required to give the Office of Management and Budget a plan for handling deep cuts that might be triggered by the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings act. The institution also sent notices of possible furloughs to more than 6,600 employees.

But Roger Kennedy, director of the National Museum of American History, said the deep cuts are “extremely unlikely.” On Capitol Hill, a Democratic aide said the exercise was simply “the Administration trying to play tough.”

In a memo sent Monday to all employees, the Smithsonian’s top budget official said a 32% budget cut is unlikely to remain in effect for the entire fiscal year but added, “There is a good chance that such a reduction will be in effect for some portion of the first quarter of FY 1991 while the Administration and Congress attempt to work out a deficit-reduction plan.”

The Smithsonian memo said the plan submitted to OMB was designed in part to “demonstrate that it is unavoidable that the impact upon the public will be as major as in other programs.” The plan anticipates closing its museums--as well as the National Zoo--on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays.