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June 16, 1999, Wednesday, SOONER EDITION

SECTION: NATIONAL, Pg. A-14

LENGTH: 626 words

HEADLINE: BILL BACKED BY SHUSTER WOULD BOOST AVIATION FUNDS

BYLINE: JUDY PACKER-TURSMAN, POST-GAZETTE WASHINGTON BUREAU

DATELINE: WASHINGTON

BODY:

The House yesterday overwhelmingly passed an aviation spending bill that would triple the federal money Pittsburgh International Airport receives each year for runways and taxiways, noise control and airport security.

Instead of getting $ 6.7 million a year, Pittsburgh would end up with $ 20 million. And, if Rep. Bud Shuster, R-Everett, the House Transportation Committee chairman, prevails in what is certain to be a colossal battle, Pennsylvania's share for airport improvements could triple to $ 60 million yearly. But this week, the White House budget office issued a veto threat, arguing that the measure wouldn't pay for itself. Also, the Senate has yet to vote on the two-year reauthorization of the Federal Aviation Administration and so far does not seem inclined to spend as much as the House bill would.

In yesterday's 316-110 vote, House lawmakers authorized a total of $ 57 billion for Federal Aviation Administration programs and airport grants over the next five years, essentially removing the aviation programs from budgetary constraints by a highly controversial move that would take the aviation trust fund out of the federal budget.

The measure - long a dream of Shuster's - is aimed, he says, at modernizing U.S. aviation for the 21st century. Critics see it as a method to fund airport improvement in key legislators' districts.

Shuster's bill would mean that money flowing into the aviation trust fund from passenger ticket taxes and aviation fuel taxes would be used only for aviation projects. It could not be counted as part of the federal budget surplus.

Last year, Shuster succeeded in removing the federal highway trust fund from the federal budget so trust fund dollars could be used only to meet infrastructure needs. That paved the way for more federal spending on roads and bridges.

Shuster's bill calls for $ 14 billion more aviation dollars than are per mitted under previously approved congressional budget caps for fiscal years 2001 to 2004. It would offset the increase by trimming a proposed $ 778 billion general tax cut.

During yesterday's House floor debate, Shuster said it was "morally wrong to take the tax money of the traveling public and give it away as part of a general tax cut."

Shuster has argued that entire proposed increase would be paid for with $ 14 billion in unspent aviation taxes that, under historic funding patterns, would be collected but not spent during this time.

Armed with last-minute support from House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., Shuster overcame strong opposition to this key provision from a group of powerful GOP committee chairmen concerned that it would rope off dollars without reducing aviation spending.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers defeated, 248-179, a key bipartisan amendment that would have prevented Shuster from "unlocking" the trust fund. Shuster's measure also drew ire from House conservatives worried that it would reduce the tax cut they still hope to pass this year.

After Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, finished voicing his opposition to Shuster's bill, Shuster quickly reminded colleagues that DeLay was offering his own opinion, not speaking on behalf of the GOP leadership. Ultimately, Republicans split evenly on the issue.

Shuster defended his plan to take the trust fund out of the federal budget by saying that, if it were rejected, "there ain't no beef left in the hamburger. There's nothing there."

"This doesn't take the beef out of the burger. It takes the pork out of the pork barrel," retorted Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., a key Appropriations Committee member. He argued that if airports became the government's top priority, programs such as cancer research, veterans' health care and education would be cut.

LOAD-DATE: June 16, 1999