NATION IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Panel OKs Funding for Space Station

In the opening round of the fight over space station Freedom, a House Appropriations subcommittee voted narrowly to continue work on the $30-billion project but with substantially less money than was requested by the Bush Administration. The panel voted, 6 to 5, to spend $1.72 billion on the planned orbiting space laboratory in the 1993 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1. That represents a $525-million cut from the $2.25 billion requested by the Administration. The real test will come on the House floor sometime next month.