Fiscal Year 2009 budget proposes cuts in transportation funding
Staff -- Logistics Management, 2/5/2008
WASHINGTON—The White House’s proposed fiscal 2009 budget, which was announced yesterday was met with mixed reviews by influential transportation industry stakeholders.
President George W. Bush allocated $68 billion for the Department of Transportation (DOT), which would go towards various initiatives, including the DOT’s critical safety programs, financing for congestion-relief problems for roads and airways, as well as honor the six-year transportation funding commitment under SAFETEA-LU.
This budget proposal places a strong emphasis on fighting congestion, as well as to implement new and innovative ways to fight gridlock on the roads and in the air, DOT Secretary Mary Peters said in a statement. And the DOT added to supplement these efforts, the budget provides a record $10.1 billion for transit programs.
Peters also noted that the budget also encourages innovation in fighting gridlock by proposing to use $175 million in inactive earmarks and 75 percent of certain discretionary highway and transit program funds to fight congestion and give priority to projects that combine a mix of pricing, transit, and technology solutions.
While the DOT had an optimistic feeling about the budget, a report from The Wall Street Journal noted that funding would actually be cut under this proposal, with officials from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, the FAA and others saying that this proposal falls short of the actual funding needed and that this plan does not offer up any wholesale changes and improvements.
The DOT’s breakdown of the budget items indicated that total discretionary budget resources from fiscal 2008 to fiscal 2009 would decline from $69.246 billion to $63.422 billion. Some of the freight transportation departments facing the biggest budget cuts would be the Federal Railroad Administration declining from $1.561 billion to $1.091 billion and the Federal Highway Administration, with funding dropping from $41.241 billion to $35.514 billion. On the positive side is funding for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration possibly bumping up from $530 million to $541 million, and the Federal Maritime Administration increasing annual funding from $306 million to $314 million.
Oberstar comments: House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure James Oberstar blasted the proposed budget, saying that much of it is disappointing. He commented that it “shortchanges highways, transit, rail, and air transportation programs, as well as emergency preparedness, inland
Oberstar added that potentially the biggest oversight in this budget is the White House’s plan to violate the highway and transit funding guarantees in SAFETEA-LU. The White House proposes to cut highway and transit grants to states by $1 billion below SAFETEA-LU guarantees. This fiscal 2009 budget proposes $39.4 billion for the Federal-aid highways program, which is $800 million below the $40.2 billion funding level guaranteed by SAFETEA-LU. (SAFETEA-LU originally guaranteed $41.2 billion in highway investments for fiscal year 2009). And the White House also is proposing a $1 billion reduction due to Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) in addition to the $800 million highway cut to the highway program, said the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure.
AAPA feedback: After learning in December that the federal Port Security Grant Programs would receive the full $400 million that was originally requested in the Security and Accountability for Every (SAFE) Port Act that was passed in October, the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA) said yesterday that may no longer be the case.
The Port Security Grant program assists public ports in funding marine facility security improvements and protects maritime facilities from terrorist attacks.
The proposed budget called for a 7.6 percent overall increase in DHS’ budget in fiscal year 2009, but is recommending that the Port Security Grant program receive $210 million in Congressional appropriations. This figure falls far short of the $400 million that was originally requested in the SAFE Port Act and matches what the White House recommended in its fiscal 2008 budget, although the White House and Congress approved a $400 million appropriation for port security grants as part of the fiscal 2008 omnibus spending package and domestic spending bill.
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