Appropriations for FY2002: Transportation and Related Agencies

Publication Date: January 2002

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Transportation

Type:

Abstract:

On December 18, 2001, the President Bush signed the FY2002 Department of Transportation (DOT) and Related Agencies conference agreement (H. Rept. 107- 308), appropriating a total of $59.588 billion for DOT, a 2.5% increase over the FY2001 enacted level. The enacted bill provides $507 million more than the House-passed version and $391 million less than the Senate-passed bill. At $32.895 billion, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) will receive slightly less than in FY 2001. The Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will receive $734 million, $21 million less than in FY2001. The other major agencies all get increases. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) budget will increase roughly 6% to $13.295 billion; the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) budget will increase 8% to $6.747 billion; and the Coast Guard will receive an increase of 12% to $5.031 billion. The Act also includes $1.25 billion (to be offset by user fee collections) for the new Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

The enacted conference agreement mandates significant safety and inspection requirements be met by Mexico-domiciled trucks before DOT begins processing Mexican applications for operating authority in the U.S. beyond the commercial zones along the border. It does, however, include a number of modifications in response to Administration concerns that the original Senate bill (as well as the House bill) violated provisions of the North American Free Trade Association agreement (NAFTA).

The conference agreement created a controversy when the conferees redirected and earmarked $997.6 million of Revenue Aligned Budget Authority (RABA) funds. The RABA mechanism adjusts DOT program authorization and obligation levels to reflect recent fuel tax revenues (by increasing or decreasing both the authorization and the obligation limitation). For FY2002, this added $4.5 billion to DOT programs. This redirection of RABA funds reduces the RABA portion of the states’ formula funding by 10.7% from what they otherwise would have received. authorizers see this action as a usurpation of their authority, and some vowed to oppose this sort of action in the future.

Congress responded to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, by passing the 2001 Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Recovery from and Response to Terrorist Attacks on the United States (P.L.107-38). That Act provides $40 billion, government-wide, to pay the costs of a variety of responses, including “providing increased transportation security.” As of this writing, roughly $1.9 billion of these emergency supplemental funds have been approved for transfer to DOT.