While not formally announcing the withdrawal of the proposed rules, Mineta on Thursday hinted to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee that it is his "feeling" that the proposed rules should be addressed during the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21). Mineta said in the meantime, the Department is working to institute improvements to the environmental process through administrative action.

Mineta expressed his thoughts in response to questions from Committee Ranking Member Robert Smith (R-NH), who claimed that the proposed rules did not reflect the intent of Congress. Smith said the rules should be withdrawn, adding that the Committee would seek to incorporate specific streamlining provisions into the new legislation.

The notices of proposed rulemaking to implement the streamlining provisions of TEA-21 were introduced by the Federal Highway Administration and Federal Transit Administration in May 2000. In comments to the Department of Transportation, AASHTO and other organizations -- along with some members of Congress -- expressed concern that the proposed regulations would further complicate the transportation project-approval process. Those regulations have languished at the Department of Transportation since the Bush Administration took control last year.

Daschle moved his proposal to the floor quickly by offering it as a substitute amendment for another bill that had been included as part of last year's tax-cut package. Republicans offered no objection to bringing the bill to the floor, but did not agree to restrict amendments as a means of achieving swift action. Nonetheless, Republican Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-MS) said that his aim was "to get a bill" and to avoid a filibuster.

Daschle described his bill as a compromise proposal that contained provisions acceptable to both sides. The House last year passed two versions of an economic-stimulus bill, but Daschle refused to bring either to the Senate floor in December. Daschle's bill includes a 13-week extension of unemployment benefits, a $300 check for those who did not receive tax rebates last year from the tax-cut package; tax benefits for businesses buying equipment; and an additional $5 billion in Medicaid funding to assist states in supplying health benefits to the poor.

Lott indicated that Senate Republicans had not agreed on the $5 billion in Medicaid funding.

White House budget director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. told reporters the federal budget is likely to run deficits through the remainder of President George W. Bush's term, then return to surplus status later in the decade. Daniels' details surprised reporters, who are unused to hearing such information from the executive branch prior to the formal release of the president's budget, slated this year for early February.

On the Hill, the Congressional Budget Office released a similarly troubling forecast. A combination of recession-spurred reductions in tax revenue coupled with boosts in social service spending needs has helped push the deficit, along with new costs for military and homeland security protections engendered by terrorist attacks on U.S. sites last September.

The CBO, however, suggested that the president's tax cut made the difference between a slight surplus and the forecast deficit. Democrats have suggested that the GOP-led tax cut precipitated the shift from surplus to deficit.

The Post reported that the White House may be altering an earlier stance - that the president's budget would leave Social Security payroll taxes in Social Security and not use them to finance other governmental programs. That hot button may prove difficult for partisans on both sides of the aisle to resist: Sen. Deborah Ann Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat, compared the situation to the problems of failed energy corporation Enron, telling a Senate Budget Committee hearing, "The top 1 or 2 percent of the public will get major tax cuts paid for by the retirement earnings of Social Security and Medicare by the majority of Americans."

Daniels disagreed, replying that the tax cut was "very wise public policy" and would phase in gradually over a decade, giving Congress more opportunities to amend the policies in future if conditions warrant.

Last year, the White House projected a federal budget surplus of $231 billion this year. The change represents the largest decline from a surplus since 1952.

Daniels noted that projections fluctuate significantly and often are "of very, very little use." He described the administration forecast as "this year's wild guess."

The CBO forecast assumes no changes in policy, with spending growing at the rate of inflation. The agency that the budget would experience a $21 billion deficit in 2002 and a $14 billion deficit in the following year. The CBO forecast does not include recent congressional or administration promises of greater spending on farm programs or new security and anti-terrorism programs, while Daniels' office has included those.

The White House projections assume passage of an economic stimulus plan this year.

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held the first of 11 hearings that will take place this year in preparation for reauthorization. Committee Chairman Jim Jeffords (I-VT) noted in his opening remarks that TEA-21 and its predecessor, the Intermodal Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA), provide a solid base on which to refine the program. He said his priorities include creating a more inclusive process and improving the safety and security of the system.

During the hearing, the funding guarantees and the use of Highway Trust Fund money for other modes were discussed. In responding to a question by Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT), Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta told the panel that he supports the funding "firewalls" for highways, but acknowledged that "there will be some arm-wrestling within the administration" regarding the funding guarantees during reauthorization.

Throughout the hearing, Mineta expressed his opposition to using Highway Trust Fund money for other modes. He added that ISTEA and TEA-21 both emphasized intermodalism, and Trust Fund revenue should be also used to improve intermodal connectors.

Chairman Jeffords expressed his support for allowing Highway Trust Fund revenue to be used for rail and other modes as a way to achieve a more balanced transportation system. Mineta disagreed, saying that with highway needs so great, it is important to minimize "who will be at the table drawing funds." He stressed the importance of seeking new innovative financing and public/private partnerships to address other modal needs.

More Local Involvement Supported

During the hearing, some of those who testified called on Congress to give city and rural officials more authority in the transportation decision-making process and direct access to federal funding.

Pete Clavelle, Mayor of Burlington, Vermont, spoke on behalf of the National League of Cities. He said city and town officials should be given more flexibility to manage and operate their transportation systems, and expressed support for developing a new program that provides local funding to address congestion management.

Testifying for the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Boise, Idaho Mayor H. Brent Coles also called for more input in the transportation-planning process. He cited a survey of the nation's mayors that indicates only 40 percent of respondents were asked by the state to participate in the planning process. He expressed support for a block-type grant program to deliver federal funding to local officials.

The panel recommended that United grant its nearly 13,000 mechanics a pay increase of 37 percent. The board said there was "no justification" in not giving mechanics their first raise since 1994. The increase will boost a senior United mechanic's hourly pay to $35.14, with increases to $37.54 by mid-2004. The union, whose top mechanics now make $25.60 an hour, had sought top pay of $39.27 per hour.

Thomas E. White, Secretary of the Army, said President Bush will set a timetable for the changeover. The president mobilized the guard to ensure public safety following the deadly attacks in New York, at the Pentagon in Virginia and in Pennsylvania, where a hijacked plane crash-landed in a rural area, apparently after passengers overcame the terrorists piloting the craft.

"We will obviously do what's necessary to protect our country," White said, but he added that local civilian authorities have been expected to resume provision of such services in the long run.

National Guard troops helping guarantee border security in some states also should eventually be replaced by other authorities, White said.

Transportation Security Administration spokesman James P. Mitchell said the shift away from National Guard will take place on an airport-by-airport basis as TSA employees are hired and trained. He declined to cite any particular time frame for the full changeover. The TSA is charged with hiring more than 28,000 security screeners under a recent law, and also must have explosives-detection systems on line for checked baggage by the end of the year.

Schweiker told the state's first-ever truck safety conference that "Too often, safe driving is being replaced by careless driving." The conference, January 23 and 24 in Carlisle, was attended by state and federal transportation officials, driver-safety groups, and national trucking organizations.

Schweiker unveiled several legislative, policy, and educational initiatives to aid in the administration's goal of making Pennsylvania's roads the safest in the country. According to Schweiker's office, crashes in the year 2000 involving heavy trucks were the highest in five years in the Keystone State.

"Pennsylvania takes great pride in being the safest state in the nation," he said. "Today we continue to address safety and security - - this time on our heavily traveled roads."

Schweiker laid out a wide range of truck-safety measures, with specific focus on education, penalties and enforcement for both heavy-truck and automobile drivers. Some of the initiatives include targeting aggressive drivers; exploring ways to improve driver education for both heavy-truck and automobile drivers; and holding more frequent and random heavy-truck and waste-hauler inspections.

Easterly, who will continue in his current status as District Engineer for District 8 until the end of the month, assumed the top post on January 16. He is a licensed professional engineer and has spent more than three decades with the department.

The Federal Highway Administration' s Fall/Winter 2001 Issue of Innovative Finance Quarterly is enclosed.