Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
S. HRG. 107–395 Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations Fiscal Year 2002 107th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION H.R. 2299/S. 1178 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION (Amtrak) NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2002 (H.R. 2299/S. 1178) S. HRG. 107–395 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RELAT- ED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 2299/S. 1178 AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANS- PORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2002, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Department of Transportation General Accounting Office National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) Nondepartmental witnesses Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 70–867 PDF WASHINGTON : 2002 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 1 TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky TOM HARKIN, Iowa CONRAD BURNS, Montana BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HARRY REID, Nevada JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire HERB KOHL, Wisconsin ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah PATTY MURRAY, Washington BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota LARRY CRAIG, Idaho DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois MIKE DEWINE, Ohio TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana STEVEN J. CORTESE, Staff Director LISA SUTHERLAND, Deputy Staff Director TERRENCE E. SAUVAIN, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama Chairman ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania PATTY MURRAY, Washington CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado HARRY REID, Nevada KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas HERB KOHL, Wisconsin TED STEVENS, Alaska RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois (ex officio) Professional Staff WALLY BURNETT JOYCE C. ROSE PAUL DOERRER PETER ROGOFF (Minority) KATE HALLAHAN (Minority) Administrative Support CANDICE ROGERS ANGELA LEE (Minority) 1 Committee and subcommittee memberships—January 25, 2001 to June 6, 2001. NOTE.—From January 3 to January 20, 2001 the Democrats held the majority, thanks to the deciding vote of outgoing Democratic Vice President Al Gore. Senator Thomas A. Daschle be- came majority leader at that time. Starting January 20, 2001, the incoming Republican Vice President Richard Cheney held the deciding vote, giving the majority to the Republicans. Sen- ator Trent Lott resumed his position as majority leader. On May 24, 2001, Senator James Jef- fords of Vermont announced his switch from Republican to Independent status, effective June 6, 2001. Jeffords announced that he would caucus with the Democrats, changing control of the evenly divided Senate from the Republicans to the Democrats. Senator Thomas A. Daschle be- came majority leader once again on June 6, 2001. (II) COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 2 ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia, Chairman DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii TED STEVENS, Alaska ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania TOM HARKIN, Iowa PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri HARRY REID, Nevada MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CONRAD BURNS, Montana PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado LARRY CRAIG, Idaho KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas JON KYL, Arizona TERRENCE E. SAUVAIN, Staff Director CHARLES KIEFFER, Deputy Staff Director STEVEN J. CORTESE, Minority Staff Director LISA SUTHERLAND, Minority Deputy Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES PATTY MURRAY, Washington, Chairman ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico HARRY REID, Nevada ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania HERB KOHL, Wisconsin CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado Professional Staff PETER ROGOFF KATE HALLAHAN WALLY BURNETT (Minority) PAUL DOERRER (Minority) Administrative Support ANGELA LEE CANDICE ROGERS (Minority) 2 Committee and subcommittee memberships—June 6, 2001 to July 10, 2001. NOTE.—From January 3 to January 20, 2001 the Democrats held the majority, thanks to the deciding vote of outgoing Democratic Vice President Al Gore. Senator Thomas A. Daschle be- came majority leader at that time. Starting January 20, 2001, the incoming Republican Vice President Richard Cheney held the deciding vote, giving the majority to the Republicans. Sen- ator Trent Lott resumed his position as majority leader. On May 24, 2001, Senator James Jef- fords of Vermont announced his switch from Republican to Independent status, effective June 6, 2001. Jeffords announced that he would caucus with the Democrats, changing control of the evenly divided Senate from the Republicans to the Democrats. Senator Thomas A. Daschle be- came majority leader once again on June 6, 2001. (III) CONTENTS WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2001 Page Department of Transportation ................................................................................ 1 General Accounting Office ...................................................................................... 1 THURSDAY, MARCH 15, 2001 Freight Rail .............................................................................................................. 91 THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2001 Department of Transportation: Office of the Secretary ........................................ 157 FRIDAY, JUNE 1, 2001 Department of Transportation: Coast Guard ........................................................ 251 Nondepartmental witnesses .................................................................................... 273 WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13, 2001 Department of Transportation: Coast Guard ...................................................................................................... 303 Office of the Inspector General ........................................................................ 303 THURSDAY, JUNE 28, 2001 Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration ....................... 361 National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) ............................................. 387 MATERIAL SUBMITTED BY AGENCIES NOT APPEARING FOR FORMAL HEARINGS Department of Transportation: Federal Transit Administration ...................................................................... 405 Research and Special Programs Administration ........................................... 475 (V) DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RE- LATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2002 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2001 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 2 p.m., in room SD–124, Dirksen Sen- ate Office Building, Hon. Richard C. Shelby (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Shelby and Murray. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STATEMENT OF HON. KENNETH M. MEAD, INSPECTOR GENERAL GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE STATEMENT OF JOHN H. ANDERSON, MANAGING DIRECTOR, PHYS- ICAL INFRASTRUCTURE OVERSIGHT HEARING ON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD C. SHELBY Senator SHELBY. The committee will come to order. This over- sight hearing of the Subcommittee on Transportation Appropria- tions is now in session. Welcome to the first hearing held by the Subcommittee on Transportation in 2001. This afternoon’s hearing has a different focus than most hearings held by this committee. Normally, the Appropriations Committee responds to the administration’s budget proposal with a series of hearings and submitted questions that are designed to get more in- formation about the budget, to compare the new request to ongoing efforts by the administration and to justify new initiatives proposed by the President. This information helps the committee make in- formed decisions as it develops appropriations legislation. However, there is another side to the responsibilities of the Ap- propriations Committee. This other responsibility is the oversight of the Federal agencies we fund. It is imperative to ensure that Federal taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and spent well. While we await the administration’s fiscal year 2002 budget request, I thought it would be useful to assess how the Department is doing and where there is room for improvement. Proper management of Federal funds cannot be taken for grant- ed. That’s the reason the Federal agencies have Inspectors General (1) 2 to audit and to investigate agency management and detect cases of fraud, waste,