Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations
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S. HRG. 111–983 Senate Hearings Before the Committee on Appropriations Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Fiscal Year 2011 111th CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION H.R. 5850/S. 3644 DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION NATIONAL RAILROAD PASSENGER CORPORATION (AMTRAK) NONDEPARTMENTAL WITNESSES WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations, 2011 (H.R. 5850/S. 3644) S. HRG. 111–983 TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES AP- PROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION ON H.R. 5850/S. 3644 AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENTS OF TRANS- PORTATION AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RE- LATED AGENCIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2011, AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES Department of Housing and Urban Development Department of Transportation National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) Nondepartmental witnesses Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 54–989 PDF WASHINGTON : 2011 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) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri TOM HARKIN, Iowa MITCH MCCONNELL, Kentucky BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HERB KOHL, Wisconsin JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire PATTY MURRAY, Washington ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota SUSAN COLLINS, Maine MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio JACK REED, Rhode Island LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey BEN NELSON, Nebraska MARK PRYOR, Arkansas JON TESTER, Montana ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania CHARLES J. HOUY, Staff Director BRUCE EVANS, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES PATTY MURRAY, Washington, Chairman ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HERB KOHL, Wisconsin ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota SAM BROWNBACK, Kansas PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee TOM HARKIN, Iowa SUSAN COLLINS, Maine DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi (ex officio) FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii (ex officio) Professional Staff ALEX KEENAN MEAGHAN L. MCCARTHY RACHEL MILBERG DABNEY HEGG JON KAMARCK (Minority) ELLEN BEARES (Minority) RACHEL JONES (Minority) Administrative Support MICHAEL BAIN (II) CONTENTS THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 Page Department of Transportation: Office of the Secretary ........................................ 1 THURSDAY, MARCH 11, 2010 Department of Housing and Urban Development: Office of the Secretary ......... 61 THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 2010 Department of Transportation: Federal Railroad Administration ...................... 121 National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) ............................................. 145 THURSDAY, MAY 6, 2010 Department of Transportation: Office of the Secretary ........................................ 179 Department of Housing and Urban Development: Office of the Secretary ......... 191 THURSDAY, MAY 13, 2010 Department of Housing and Urban Development: Federal Housing Adminis- tration ................................................................................................................... 225 WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 2010 Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority ............................................... 285 Nondepartmental witnesses .................................................................................... 345 (III) TRANSPORTATION AND HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, AND RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2011 THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 2010 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 9:31 a.m., in room SD–124, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Patty Murray (chairman) presiding. Present: Senators Murray, Kohl, Specter, Bond, and Collins. DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY STATEMENT OF HON. RAY LaHOOD, SECRETARY ACCOMPANIED BY CHRIS BERTRAM, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR BUDGET AND PROGRAMS AND CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR PATTY MURRAY Senator MURRAY. Good morning, the subcommittee will come to order. This morning, we’re going to be holding our first hearing on the President’s budget request for the Department of Transportation. I want to welcome Secretary Ray LaHood. Thank you so much for being here today. The transportation budget that we have before us today is impor- tant for families, commuters, communities across the country, and it’s about more than just dollar amounts and more than just the sum of the programs and provisions; it really is a statement of val- ues and a reflection of priorities. It’s an issue that touches every American, every day. It affects the men and women who commute to work and need safe roads or new public transportation options, it affects the parents who strap their young kids into the back seat of the family car and need to be confident that their government has the resources to make sure that passenger vehicles used by American families are safe. It affects communities around the coun- try that are facing immense fiscal challenges and depend on Fed- eral resources to maintain and improve their transportation infra- structure. The transportation budget has a real impact on real people, peo- ple who are struggling in these tough economic times. Last year, we passed a recovery package that is now working to create jobs and rebuild infrastructure and lay down a strong foundation for (1) 2 long-term economic growth. It was a good start, but we cannot stop working until our economy is steadily growing again and any American who wants a job can find one. That’s why we are building on the Recovery Act with new tar- geted jobs bills to help workers get back on the job and make in- vestments that strengthen our competitiveness in the long term, in- cluding investments in transportation. And its why, as we examine this budget request, we need to make sure that it builds on those efforts and continues moving us forward, creating jobs, and invest- ing in our communities, long term. Today’s hearing comes shortly after the Senate passed an exten- sion of the surface transportation programs. But, unfortunately, as we know, this extension was not passed in time and almost 2,000 DOT employees were furloughed without pay for the first half of this week. The gap in funding didn’t just hurt those Federal em- ployees, it also left State governments wondering about the future of funding that they desperately need. In my home State of Wash- ington, a reimbursement payment of $13.5 million for federally- sponsored projects, that was due on Tuesday, was left in limbo. Seeing these programs shut off, even just for a short time, is es- pecially troubling since Senator Bond and I have worked so hard to bring stability to the highway safety and transit programs au- thorized under SAFETEA–LU. Two years ago, we included a trans- fer of funds to prevent the Highway Trust Fund from going bank- rupt. Last year, we provided an additional $650 million for the highway program, an increase of $400 million for transit, despite the absence of a new authorization law to provide for such in- creases. And now, when our communities need jobs and Federal invest- ments in infrastructure more than ever, they’re facing shutdowns of the highway and transit programs and instability in their fund- ing streams. The uncertainty of this brings—undermines essential planning by our States and local jurisdictions. That’s why we need to move quickly toward a long-term authorization of the highway, safety, and transit programs, one that brings solvency to the High- way Trust Fund and stability to our States and communities, and I am committed to getting that done in the near future. Before I get to the budget request, I want to take a few minutes to commend Secretary LaHood and the DOT on meeting some sig- nificant challenges this past year. Immediately after the Recovery Act was enacted, the Department began working to distribute high- way and transit grants to State and local governments. The law set very aggressive deadlines for all of the programs it funded, and to its credit, the DOT has met each one and it has worked hard to help our State and local governments meet their deadlines, as well. That was absolutely critical as we worked to create jobs, invest in our infrastructure, and accelerate economic recovery. I was very happy with the DOT’s work on two programs, in particular, the Inner-City and High-Speed Rail Grants,