107TH CONGRESS REPORT " ! 2d Session HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 107–722 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2003 OCTOBER 7, 2002.—Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, from the Committee on Appropriations, submitted the following R E P O R T together with ADDITIONAL VIEWS [To accompany H.R. 5559] The Committee on Appropriations submits the following report in explanation of the accompanying bill making appropriations for the Department of Transportation and related agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2003. INDEX TO BILL AND REPORT Page number Bill Report Narrative summary of Committee action ................................................. ........ 2 Program, project, and activity ................................................................... ........ 3 Title I—Department of Transportation: Office of the Secretary ........................................................................ 2 5 Transportation Security Administration ........................................... 5 16 Coast Guard ......................................................................................... 7 30 Federal Aviation Administration ....................................................... 12 42 Federal Highway Administration ...................................................... 17 77 Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration .................................. 19 103 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ............................ 21 108 Federal Railroad Administration ....................................................... 23 117 Federal Transit Administration ......................................................... 26 129 Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation ......................... 35 178 Research and Special Programs Administration .............................. 36 180 Office of Inspector General ................................................................. 37 185 Surface Transportation Board ........................................................... 38 187 82–170 VerDate 0ct 02 2002 07:19 Oct 08, 2002 Jkt 082170 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6659 E:\HR\OC\HR722.XXX HR722 2 Title II—Related Agencies: Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board ....... 39 188 National Transportation Safety Board .............................................. 39 189 Title III—General Provisions .................................................................... 40 190 House Report Requirements: Appropriations not authorized by law ............................................... ........ 208 Changes in existing law ..................................................................... ........ 202 Comparison with budget resolution ................................................... ........ 208 Constitutional authority ..................................................................... ........ 192 Financial assistance to state and local governments ....................... ........ 209 Five-year projections of outlays ......................................................... ........ 209 Ramseyer ............................................................................................. ........ 194 Rescissions ........................................................................................... ........ 209 Transfers of funds ............................................................................... ........ 193 Tabular summary of the bill ..................................................................... ........ 212 SUMMARY AND MAJOR RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE BILL The accompanying bill would provide $21,746,930,000 in new budget (obligational) authority for the programs of the Department of Transportation and related agencies, $379,750,000 less than the $22,126,680,000 requested in the budget. Selected major rec- ommendations in the accompanying bill are: (1) An appropriation of $13,599,225,000 for the Federal Avia- tion Administration, consistent with provisions of AIR–21; (2) A limitation of $3,400,000,000 for grants-in-aid for air- ports, as required by provisions of AIR–21; (3) An appropriation of $4,305,456,000 for operating ex- penses of the Coast Guard; (4) An appropriation of $762,476,000 for grants to the Na- tional Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak), to cover cap- ital and operating expenses; (5) An appropriation of $5,146,000,000 for capital and oper- ating costs of the Transportation Security Administration; (6) A total of $181,031,000 for the office of the secretary, in- cluding $25,000,000 for acquisition of a new DOT headquarters building; (7) Highway program obligation limitations of $27,653,143,000, consistent with provisions of TEA–21 and other existing legislation; (8) Transit program obligations of $7,226,000,000, consistent with provisions of TEA–21; and (9) A total of $367,411,000 for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, including $190,000,000 for the national motor carrier safety program. THE EFFECT OF GUARANTEED SPENDING Over the objections of the Appropriations and Budget Commit- tees, in 1998 the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA–21) amended the Budget Enforcement Act to provide two new additional spending categories or ‘‘firewalls’’, the highway cat- egory and the mass transit category. In March 2000, the Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century (AIR–21) provided a similar treatment for certain aviation pro- grams. Although using different procedures, each of these Acts pro- duced the same results: they significantly raised spending, and they effectively prohibited the Appropriations Committee from re- VerDate 0ct 02 2002 07:19 Oct 08, 2002 Jkt 082170 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR722.XXX HR722 3 ducing those spending levels in the annual appropriations process. As the Committee noted during deliberations on these bills, the Acts essentially created mandatory spending programs within the discretionary caps. This undermines Congressional flexibility to fund other equally important programs, including non-guaranteed transportation programs such as FAA Operations, the Coast Guard, the Transportation Security Administration and Amtrak. As a result of these Acts, the majority of budgetary resources ad- dressed by this bill are either ‘‘guaranteed’’ by federal legislation and/or protected by unprecedented points of order passed into law at the initiative of the authorization committees. The Committee will continue to do all it can in this environment to produce a balanced bill which provides adequately for all modes of transportation. However, clearly the use of spending guarantees to ‘‘wall-off’’ parts of the discretionary budget for particular con- stituencies cause both transportation and non-transportation pro- grams all across the government to be under more severe budget pressure, in order to keep the overall budget in balance. The effect of the guarantees will especially leave its mark on non-covered transportation programs and activities, since they must compete within this bill for leftover funding. The Committee continues to be concerned that bills such as TEA–21 and AIR–21 skew transpor- tation priorities inappropriately, by providing a banquet of in- creases to highway, transit, and airport spending while leaving safety- and security-related operations in the FAA, Coast Guard, Transportation Security Administration, and FRA to scramble for the remaining crumbs. TABULAR SUMMARY A table summarizing the amounts provided for fiscal year 2002 and the amounts recommended in the bill for fiscal year 2003 com- pared with the budget estimates is included at the end of this re- port. COMMITTEE HEARINGS The Committee has conducted extensive hearings on the pro- grams and projects provided for in the Department of Transpor- tation and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for fiscal year 2003. These hearings are contained in eight published volumes. The Committee received testimony from officials of the executive branch, Members of Congress, officials of the General Accounting Office, officials of state and local governments, and private citizens. The bill recommendations for fiscal year 2003 have been devel- oped after careful consideration of all the information available to the Committee. PROGRAM, PROJECT, AND ACTIVITY During fiscal year 2003, for the purposes of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (Public Law 99–177), as amended, with respect to appropriations contained in the accom- panying bill, the terms ‘‘program, project, and activity’’ shall mean any item for which a dollar amount is contained in an appropria- tions Act (including joint resolutions providing continuing appro- priations) or accompanying reports of the House and Senate Com- VerDate 0ct 02 2002 07:19 Oct 08, 2002 Jkt 082170 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6659 Sfmt 6602 E:\HR\OC\HR722.XXX HR722 4 mittees on Appropriations, or accompanying conference reports and joint explanatory statements of the committee of conference. This definition shall apply to all programs for which new budget (obligational) authority is provided, as well as to capital investment grants, Federal Transit Administration. In addition, the percentage reductions made pursuant to a sequestration order to funds appro- priated for facilities and equipment, Federal Aviation Administra- tion, and for acquisition, construction, and improvements, Coast Guard, shall be applied equally to each ‘‘budget