S. HRG. 106±221 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RELAT- ED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000 HEARINGS BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SIXTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON H.R. 2084/S. 1143 AN ACT MAKING APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANS- PORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 2000, 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 ★ 63±324 cc WASHINGTON : 1999 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0±16±059717±X COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 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 SLADE GORTON, Washington FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey 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 JON KYL, Arizona STEVEN J. CORTESE, Staff Director LISA SUTHERLAND, Deputy Staff Director JAMES H. ENGLISH, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND RELATED AGENCIES RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama Chairman PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland SLADE GORTON, Washington HARRY REID, Nevada ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah HERB KOHL, Wisconsin BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado PATTY MURRAY, Washington Staff WALLY BURNETT JOYCE C. ROSE PAUL DOERRER PETER ROGOFF (Minority) (II) CONTENTS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1999 OVERSIGHT HEARING ON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT ISSUES Page General Accounting Office ...................................................................................... 1 Department of Transportation: Office of Inspector General ................................ 1 Department of Transportation ................................................................................ 1 THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1999 FISCAL YEAR 2000 DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION BUDGET OVERVIEW Department of Transportation: Office of the Secretary ........................................ 107 WEDNESDAY, MARCH 10, 1999 AMTRAK FINANCE AND OPERATIONAL ISSUES National Railroad Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) ............................................. 161 Department of the Transportation: Office of Inspector General .......................... 161 TUESDAY, MARCH 23, 1999 FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION BUDGET AND PROGRAMS Department of Transportation: Federal Aviation Administration ....................... 249 THURSDAY, MARCH 25, 1999 COAST GUARD BUDGET AND PROGRAMS Department of Transportation: U.S. Coast Guard ................................................ 315 MATERIAL SUBMITTED BY AGENCIES NOT APPEARING FOR FORMAL HEARINGS Department of Transportation: Amtrak Reform Council ................................................................................... 367 Federal Railroad Administration .................................................................... 374 Federal Transit Administration ...................................................................... 474 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration .......................................... 568 Research and Special Programs Administration ........................................... 598 Surface Transportation Board ......................................................................... 657 Nondepartmental witnesses: Aviation-related testimony .............................................................................. 693 Highway-related testimony .............................................................................. 707 Rail-related testimony ...................................................................................... 730 Transit-related testimony ................................................................................ 743 Highway safety-related testimony .................................................................. 785 Hazardous materials and pipeline-related testimony .................................... 787 U.S. Coast Guard-related testimony ............................................................... 796 (III) DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION AND RE- LATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2000 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1999 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met at 10:00 a.m., in room SD±192, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Richard C. Shelby (chairman) presid- ing. Present: Senators Shelby, Stevens, and Lautenberg. OVERSIGHT HEARING ON DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT ISSUES GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE STATEMENT OF JOHN H. ANDERSON, JR., DIRECTOR, TRANSPOR- TATION ISSUES DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION OFFICE OF INSPECTOR GENERAL STATEMENT OF KENNETH M. MEAD, INSPECTOR GENERAL DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION STATEMENT OF PETER J. BASSO, ASSISTANT SECRETARY, BUDGET AND PROGRAMS OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR RICHARD C. SHELBY Senator SHELBY. The committee will come to order. This over- sight hearing of the Subcommittee on Transportation Appropria- tions will come to order, as I have said. I want to extend a welcome to the first hearing held by the subcommittee on transportation in 1999. This morning'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 record questions that are designed to get more information 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 informed decisions as it develops appropriations legislation. (1) 2 However, there is another side to the responsibilities of the Ap- propriations Committee: oversight of the Federal agencies that we fund. It is imperative to ensure that Federal taxpayer dollars are spent wisely and well. Proper management of Federal funds cannot be taken for grant- ed. That is why Federal agencies have inspectors general to audit and to investigate agency management and detect cases of fraud, waste, or abuse. The General Accounting Office, an investigative arm of the legislative branch, performs audits and evaluations of Government programs and activities, often at the direction of Con- gress. Today we are joined by John Anderson, Director of Transpor- tation Issues at GAO; Ken Mead, the Department of Transpor- tation Inspector General. Welcome. Both GAO and the IG have published recent reports on management issues at the Department of Transportation. And the Department is represented this morning by Assistant Secretary of Budget and Programs, Jack Basso, who will respond to the concerns raised in these reports and tell us how DOT is addressing its management challenges. The December 9, 1998, Inspector General report titled the Top Ten Management Issues at the Department of Transportation sets out 10 top priority management issues, of which 5 are aviation re- lated. This skew toward the Federal Aviation Administration gave me pause. Does this mean that the FAA is a more troubled agency than the Federal Highway Administration or the Coast Guard? I want to explore that further, but I would point out that the Federal Government is much more directly involved in commercial air transportation than it is in other modes of travel. Every air traffic control tower is staffed by Federal employees. Every plane is inspected by FAA inspectors and technicians. Every aviation pol- icy decision is made at the Federal level, and every airport is built in part with tax dollars that are distributed by the Federal Govern- ment. There is no parallel to this level of Federal interest and con- trol in the highway, marine, rail, or transit arenas. So, perhaps the number of management issues cited by the IG is not disproportion- ate, considering the level of Federal investment and interest. Both the GAO and the IG reports cite aviation safety and secu- rity as priority management issues. In fact, the Inspector General lists aviation safety as its first priority management issue. Depart- ment-wide transportation safety is the number one strategic goal, safety in all modes of transportation, air, surface, and water. It must be noted that flying is immeasurably safer than any other mode of transportation, however. Highway fatalities claim more than 40,000 lives annually, an average of 110 people every day. Rail and transit accidents account for an additional 850 lives lost each year. But by comparison in 1998, there were no deaths, zero, on a major U.S. air carrier or commuter plane. However, once again, we are comparing very different systems. By and large, highway safety is enforced at the State and local level; aviation safety is