IN SUPPORT OF THE 1999 TRUST FUND OFF-BUDGET BILL -- HON. WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI (Extensions of Remarks - January 07, 1999)

[Page: E45]
---

HON. WILLIAM O. LIPINSKI OF ILLINOIS IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 6, 1999

Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join Chairman SHUSTER and Ranking Member OBERSTAR in introducing a bill that will take the remaining user financed transportation trust funds off budget. Specifically, this bill removes three transportation trust funds--Aviation, Harbor Maintenance, and Inland Waterways--from the unified federal budget. These trust funds are user-financed, self-supporting funds which provide important federal assistance for infrastructure preservation and improvement projects. This bill would restore the integrity of the trust funds by allowing the full, prompt utilization of collected user fees for transportation improvements rather than artificially limiting their use to help mask the federal deficit. In other words, this bill puts the ``trust'' back into the trust fund.

This bill also launches off what Chairman SHUSTER has referred to as the ``Year of Aviation.'' Chairman SHUSTER, Ranking Member OBERSTAR, Chairman DUNCAN and I will be working hard this year to significantly increase capital investment funding for our national aviation system. More and more people are flying each day. In fact, a record 600 million people will fly this year. Yet because of a lack of capital investment, our national aviation system will not be able to meet the increased demand that is expected in the near future. The Federal Aviation Administration has not modernized our air traffic control system. Our airports do not have an adequate number of gates or runways to accommodate future growth and competition. It is obvious that something need to be done to make sure our national aviation system is ready for the 21st century.

It is our belief that by lifting the artificial spending constraints on the aviation trust fund--by taking the aviation trust fund off-budget--the federal funds necessary to ensure that our national aviation systems survives well into the 21st century will finally be spent on aviation needs and aviation needs only. A strong aviation system is key to our strong economy. Aviation and aviation-related activities account for six percent of the United States' Gross Domestic Product. Businesses depend on aviation as the fastest way to move both people and goods. In addition, the tourism industry, which is one of the fastest growing, most successful industries in the world, would not survive without a strong national aviation system.

I look forward to the year ahead as we work to take the aviation trust fund off budget in order to significantly increase capital investment in aviation. We do not have much time. The Airport Improvement Program, one of the most important federal aviation capital investment programs, will expire on March 31, 1999. For this reason, I am proud to again join Chairman SHUSTER, Chairman DUNCAN and Ranking Member OBERSTAR in introducing a bill to authorize the AIP program through Fiscal Year 1999. Although the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Aviation Subcommittee are committed to working on putting together a larger reauthorization bill before the end of March, Congress is not known for meeting tight schedules. It would be an indelible mark on the Year of Aviation if the AIP program expired at the same time Congress was working on increasing federal funding for our national aviation system.

I urge my colleagues to support this bill to take the remaining three transportation trust funds off budget. the future of our national aviation system depends on it.
END