01-22-2000

TRANSPORTATION: Aviation Impasse Puts Pork in Holding Pattern

The tongue-tying minutia of aviation policy stirs few souls outside the
Federal Aviation Administration. But just bring up a subject like airline
delays or canceled flights, and the whole baggage-toting nation wants a
seat at the table.


That's what House leaders are hoping as they enlist an inconvenienced
public to help break a wintry impasse with Senators over aviation
funding.


Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee want
airlines, airport operators, and local officials back home to do their
talking for them in the dispute with the Senate. House members have begun
making a suggestion to local airport managers and airlines seeking a new
runway, terminal expansion, or control tower: Write your Senator.


"We need to get everyone who has something to gain in this bill to
start pushing their Senators," said Scott Brenner, whose boss, Rep.
Bud Shuster, R-Pa., chairs the House committee.


Lawmakers must find a way to break the logjam in order to release to their
home districts more than $1 billion for airport projects in an election
year.


The policy dispute stems from years of chronic underfunding for the
nation's airport system, and Shuster is impatient for improvements. He
wants revenues in the federal Aviation Trust Fund, which are generated by
airline ticket taxes and fees, walled off from the budget process. At the
very least, he wants guarantees of fixed funding levels for aviation
programs. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., has
tried to craft a compromise, but, according to Brenner, Shuster believes
that Senate offers to provide a limited shield for aviation funds are
"just rhetoric."


As a result, House-Senate conference negotiations on comprehensive FAA
reauthorization legislation, as well as renewal of the Airport Improvement
Program, sputtered and crashed last fall. For the FAA, the impasse meant a
one-year funding renewal-far short of the three-year deal in the Senate
bill and shorter still than the House's five-year proposal.


For the nation's airports, however, the cost stands to be greater. While
the Senate passed a one-year, $1.9 billion authorization for the Airport
Improvement Program, the House, playing hardball, refused to go along with
a short-term handout for one of Congress's favorite local pork barrel
programs.


Earlier this month Shuster was prepared to argue that the whole aviation
system is in too deep a state of disarray for any further short-term fixes
and that a permanent overhaul is needed. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.,
chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee,
agreed last fall that a permanent source of adequate funding is necessary.
But Senators were unwilling to take the $10 billion trust fund
"off-budget" or give Shuster ironclad guarantees.


This year, McCain, of course, will be distracted by his presidential
campaign. And Shuster's panel also has its hands full with other
issues.


Meanwhile, congressional transportation leaders must also decide whether
to tackle a crisis for the nation's harbors. The Supreme Court in 1998
overturned the 12-year-old harbor maintenance tax, which had raised
between $500 million and $1 billion a year to finance dredging and harbor
improvements. The ruling cited the Constitution's prohibition against
taxes on exports, but left in place harbor taxes on imports and domestic
shippers.


Congress eventually must replace the harbor fees. Corporations prefer that
the money come out of the general fund.


Public works-minded members must also decide how actively to become
involved in overseeing the Administration's proposed $8 billion
restoration of the Florida Everglades, a project promoted aggressively by
Vice President Al Gore. The project would be part of legislation
reauthorizing the Water Resources Development Act.


In another area, House Republicans are waiting to see whether Democrats,
led by Rep. James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, the ranking Democrat on the
Transportation Committee, push for hearings on a bill focusing federal
attention more closely on problems of shippers who are at the mercy of
railroads with virtual monopolies in certain areas.


The "captive shippers" have sought relief through changes in the
Surface Transportation Board, which is the reconstituted Interstate
Commerce Commission. Republicans generally oppose airing the
matter.


At a Glance: FAA Reauthorization


The Issue: Airport improvement money has been frozen by a deadlock on
legislation reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration, mainly over
a House proposal to separate the Aviation Trust Fund from the
budget.


Key Players:


Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the House Transportation and
Infrastructure Committee


Sen. Pete V. Domenici, R-N.M., chairman of the Senate Budget
Committee


Recent Action: Last year, each chamber passed an FAA bill extending the
Airport Improvement Program, but the trust fund dispute snagged conference
talks.


What to Watch: Shuster will try to bring public and industry opinion to
bear against opponents of his funding proposal. But both sides must decide
how much to compromise to free up millions in election-year
projects.


Robert Ourlian

National Journal