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Congressional Testimony
February 29, 2000
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 2907 words
HEADLINE: TESTIMONY February 29, 2000 BILL CAMPBELL MAYOR CITY OF ATLANTA
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE AVIATION FAA BUDGET
BODY:
THE UNITED STATES CONFERENCE OF MAYORS Statement of The Honorable Bill
Campbell Mayor of Atlanta on Pending
Aviation Issues before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on
Aviation U.S. House of Representatives February 29, 2000 Good morning, Mr. Chairman and
Members of the Subcommittee, I am Bill Campbell, Mayor of Atlanta. I thank you
for this opportunity to talk with you today on pending
aviation issues. I am testifying today on behalf of the City of Atlanta and The United
States Conference of Mayors, where I chair the Conference's Transportation and
Communications Committee. Mr. Chairman, I am also pleased to-join with my
colleague, Susan Savage, the Mayor of Tulsa, to share our views on the need for
Congressional action on a comprehensive
aviation renewal bill. We are here today to make our urgent call to end the deadlock in
the House-Senate Conference Committee and pass this legislation. Just like our strong
support of this Committee and its efforts to bolster investment in surface
transportation through TEA-21, Mayors strongly support you and this Committee's
efforts to secure a final
aviation agreement that follows what is set forth in ((AIR-2 I.)) And, our members have
engaged with their Representatives and Senators in pressing for this
legislation. Overview Today I come before you as the Mayor overseeing the
busiest airport in the world, Hartsfield International Airport. In this
capacity, I would like to underscore the importance of the
aviation legislation now pending before this Congress.
And, I would suggest that getting an agreement this year on the legislation is
among the most important questions for the 106th Congress. It is now an
undeniable fact that the future health and overall competitiveness of the U.S.
economy, and the city/county metro economies that drive it, is directly tied to
the strength and performance of the nation's
aviation infrastructure. Our experience in the Atlanta region offers compelling
evidence of the need for this nation to take stock of the role of
aviation in helping to build world class economies for the 21" century. Hartsfield International Airport Let me talk more specifically about
Atlanta's Hartsfield and the Atlanta region. Last year Hartsfield became the
busiest airport in the world, providing services to more than 78 million
passengers. Today, more than one of every ten passengers passes through
Hartsfield. This is an incredible rate when you
consider that there were about 650 million passenger enplanements in 1999.
This did not happen by accident. It was about the vision of local leaders in
our region to make the investment in critical infrastructure to build a strong
economic base for the region. They understood early on that
aviation investment is a powerful ingredient in building strong local economies. I
believe that AIR-21 is a contemporary example of this same kind of vision,, by
investing the resources over time that builds the economic assets of America's
future prosperity. The performance of this critical transportation asset -
Hartsfield - has been for some time, and will continue for the foreseeable
future, to fuel the economy of the greater Atlanta metro region, our state and
the U.S. economy. We have calculated that Hartsfield has a $15 billion annual
economic impact on the Atlanta region, an output that is
nearly equal to the entire output of the State of Vermont. This is a powerful
statement about the critical importance of investment in our infrastructure.
And, mayor after mayor can offer their own testimonials about the role of
aviation investment in securing their futures. Our airport now anchors a regional
economy that in 1998 outpaced U.S. economic growth by more than two to one.
And, here on Capitol Hill, all of us continue to be amazed by the growth of the
national economy. From 1997-1998, the Atlanta metro area grew by 10.77 percent.
For every ten dollars our economy generated in 1997, we were producing more
than eleven dollars one year later. And,, the benefits of this output,
including the performance of our airport, extend well beyond the boundaries of
our region. I am here to tell you today that Hartsfield is a big part of our
region's economic
growth. AIR-21 and Hartsfield Yet we don't take this success for granted. We
are continuing to invest in the facilities and improvements that are needed to
keep our airport performing. We are increasingly concerned about continuing
delays, and not just those at our airport, but here on Capitol Hill. Our
entitlement
funds under the AIP program and payments under our LOI (Letter of Intent) for our
new runway are held hostage by the stalled negotiations over AIR-21. As I just
discussed, our airport has a $15 billion economic impact on the Atlanta region,
and to secure this for the future, Hartsfield and for that matter all airports
that are so vital to their communities' economic vitality, must have the
federal partnership resources provided by AIR-2 1. Hartsfield's capital
improvement needs now total about $8 billion over the next 15 years. The
resources and authorities provided under AIR-21 are crucial to our airport and
so many others that continue to experience shortfalls in funding needs, as
demands on our
aviation infrastructure continue to escalate. Mr. Chairman,, we thank you and the
Members of this Subcommittee for your leadership, and we so much appreciate the
very able and committed leadership of Chairman Shuster and Ranking Minority
Member Oberstar, and for the vision you have set forth in AIR-21. This
legislation provides the framework to help us close this shortfall in capital
needs and respond to the rising demands of the traveling public and the
businesses that are so dependent upon the performance of our
aviation system. Support of Mayors for AIR-21 Let me talk about the features of AIR-21
and how it will help us finance our needs at Hartsfield and for other airport
needs throughout the nation's
aviation system.
AIR-21 would - - ensure that
funds collected are expended on
aviation needs, and provide certainty over time on what
funds will be available; - triple annual
"entitlement" grants under the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) that flow to the 'primary'
airports; -increase the availability of AIP discretionary
funds to support significant investments at many airports; -allow airports to
increase Passenger Facility Charges (PFC); -double AIP entitlement grants for
cargo airports; -increase funding commitments to noise mitigation; and -make
changes to the AIP program to ensure funding for smaller airports and
strengthen the national system. These provisions explain why the nation's
mayors so strongly support your efforts on this legislation. I was pleased to
author a strong policy resolution last year at the Conference of Mayors' 1999
Annual Business Meeting which conveyed the mayors"
strong support for AIR-21. I should also point out that this statement included
our support for a continuing
"fair share") allocation of general
fund revenues in support of AIR-21 and investments at FAA and at our airports. Let
me make a few additional points about the legislation. Like the debate on
TEA-21, we are strongly committed to the principle that
aviation trust fund revenues be expended for the purposes for which these revenues were collected.
This is a must. At a time when the federal government's fiscal house is in
order, this is the time to make good on the pledge to the traveling public and
others. And, we need to recognize the relatively modest share of the federal
revenue commitment we are talking about in putting
trust back into the
aviation trust fund. And, to weigh the many sizable economic benefits we will secure from
committing these
funds to
aviation needs. Mayors are also familiar with the continuing debate over the PFC.
These are not taxes, these are fees from the users of these assets. Local
governments could not function under the standard some are suggesting in
calling these taxes. How could cities operate the many user-based systems and
other enterprise functions for water, stormwater, wastewater, electric and the
like under this view of the world? In calling for an increase to $6 from the
present level of $3 in order to help us meet our local capital needs, I note
with amusement that the air carriers are allowed to levy $15 and $20 surcharges
on all tickets to cover the recent spike in fuel costs, while our airports are
not allowed to raise their fees to meet expansion needs. Conclusion Mr.
Chairman, let me again reiterate how important the AIR-21 legislation is to our
efforts to
secure our economic future. I was pleased that the Administration in its recent
budget request is proposing additional funding commitments to elements of the
AIR- 21 legislation. The mayors will continue to press-the case for why action
on the AIR-21 legislation is so crucial at this time. I note that a recent
state-by-state survey reveals that at least $1.2 billion in projects could be
lost for this construction season if AIR-21 is not passed soon. You should
also know that Conference of Mayors President and Denver Mayor Wellington E.
Webb has made enactment of AIR- 21 one of the organization's top legislative
priorities for this year. Mayor Webb also recently released the Conference's
"Agenda for America's Cities, 51 which sets forth a 10-point program that
emphasizes the importance of infrastructure investment like
aviation. Again,
let me thank you, Mr. Chairman, and the Members of the Subcommittee, Chairman
Shuster, Ranking Minority Member Oberstar, and the Members of the full
Committee for your strong leadership on these matters. Thank you for this
opportunity to appear before you today.
LOAD-DATE: March 1, 2000