	Most Recent Developments

The President signed the Department of Transportation and Related AgenciesAct, 2000 ( P.L. The Act provided $50.2 billion for the Department of Transportation (DOT).However, the FY2000 Consolidated Appropriations Act ( P.L. 106-113 ), mandatesa government wide rescission equal to 0.38% of discretionary budget authorityprovided (or obligation limits imposed) for all government departments.Approximately $179 million will be cut from the DOT funding levels provided for in P.L. The largest reductions are faced by the Federal HighwayAdministration (-$105.3 million), the Airport Improvement Program (-$54.4 million),the Federal Transit Administration (-$17.6 million), and the Coast Guard (-$1.6million). Even accounting for the rescission, the final funding level represents nearlya 6% increase over the appropriations level of the FY1999 Act. The transportation trust funds include: the highway trust fund, thetransit account of the highway trust fund, the airport and airway trust fund, and theinland waterways' trust fund. In addition, TEA-21 provides a mechanismto adjust these amounts in the highway account, but not the transit account, tocorrespond with increased or decreased receipts in the highway generated revenues(see revenue aligned budget authority - RABA- under key policy issues). 1000 contains provisions that take the aviation trust fund off budget. TheSenate-passed version of H.R. Much of the appropriations process must take place within the framework created by the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), signed intolaw on June 9, 1998 ( P.L. 106-69 ). 106-69 . Thisreduces the FY2000 enacted level down to just under $50 billion. Reductions could only be made from discretionary budget authority and obligation limitations. The enacted legislation ( P.L. for distribution to the states on a formula basis. 2084 differs from the House version in that it narrows the scope of RABAdistribution to certain of the core highway programs instead of allocated programs,thereby excluding a number of smaller previously mentioned programs. Duringconsideration in the Senate, a deadlock occurred over a provision that the would havelimited a state's total transit funding to 12.5% of total formula grant transit funding.The provision was controversial not only because it entailed changing the grantdistribution formula enacted in TEA-21 but also because all of the reductions wouldhave come out of the projected distribution of transit funds to the two states, NewYork and California. This exceeded FY1999 funding by $407 million, an increase of more than 7.6%. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

http://www.faa.gov/
For FY2000, the Administration proposed to fund the entire FAA with a combination of current excise taxes and new user fees, and to establish aPerformance-based Organization (PBO) for air traffic services. 106-69 , the FY2000 DOT appropriations bill, was signed by the President on October 9, 1999; the bill provides a total of $10.081 billion for the FAA. Operations. The Senate version of theFAA reauthorization bill ( H.R. The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and the Federal Budget , by [author name scrubbed].
On October 9, 1999, the President signed the Department of Transportation and Related Agencies Act, 2000 ( P.L. 106-69 ). The Act provided $50.2 billion for the Department ofTransportation (DOT). DOT had requested funding similar to the level enacted in P.L. 106-69 . However, the FY2000 Consolidated appropriations act, P.L. 106-113 , calls for an across-the-boardrescission of 0.38% from each agency's discretionary budget authority and obligation limits. Thiswill result in a reduction of approximately $179 million from the level enacted in P.L. 106-69 . TheFederal Highway Administration (-$105.3 million), the Airport Improvement Program (-$54.4million), the Federal Transit Administration (-$17.6 million), and the Coast Guard (-$1.6 million)together absorb all but about $0.5 million of the DOT reductions. Even with the rescission, theamount provided represents a nearly 6% increase over the FY1999 enacted level.
Reflecting the continuing impact of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), both the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal TransitAdministration (FTA) received increases of 7% above FY1999 enacted levels. The Federal AviationAdministration (FAA) received a more modest increase of just under 3%. The FY2000 Act fundsthe entire FAA budget out of the airport and airway trust fund. Historically, a significant portion ofthe FAA operations budget has been provided from general fund revenues.
Much of the debate over the Department's budget focused on allocating resources raised by user fees and deposited in specific transportation trust funds. A debate arose between those in favorof a unified budget vs. those seeking to protect individual programs either by taking them off budgetor using fiscal boundaries or "firewalls" to ensure a minimum level of financing. This policy ofcreating discretionary spending guarantees originated with the provisions of the TransportationEquity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), legislation that placed "firewalls" around certaincategories of the Federal Highway Administration's programs. The House version of the FederalAviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill, H.R. 1000 , proposes also changingthe budgetary treatment of the airport and airway trust fund by taking the fund off budget.
For the highway trust fund, TEA-21 provided for the disposition of actual receipts above those forecast and authorized. The Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) provisions requireadditional trust fund receipts to be redistributed to individual states based on the formula used toapportion highway dollars. The enacted version of H.R. 2084 narrows the scope ofRABA distribution to certain core highway programs, thereby reducing the allocations to a numberof smaller TEA-21 programs and increasing the funds flowing to the states.
Key Policy Staff
Division abbreviations: RSI = Resources, Science, and Industry Division.