During a hearing of the House Budget Committee last week officials from the Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget hinted that the days of huge increases in future budgetary surpluses are over. Rather, the August budget reports will show that there will be no increase in the last surplus projection of $5.6 trillion over the next decade. There may even be a slight decrease in that number.

This changing picture of the federal budget surpluses will likely have a major impact on available spending in federal fiscal years 1994 and beyond. This could make it more difficult, observers believe, to maintain the guaranteed spending provisions that were contained in the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21).

Over the past two years, surplus projections far exceeded earlier estimates, largely because tax revenues flowing into the Treasury were larger than expected due to a strong economy. The recent downturn in the economy, along with the $1.35 trillion tax cut passed by Congress, will likely bring the surplus down over the next decade.

Daniel Crippen, Director of the Congressional Budget Office, told the House panel that the effects of the tax cut will come into play in fiscal years 2003 and 2004, when Congress runs a risk of dipping into the Social Security or Medicare trust funds.

More Flexibility Urged for Appropriators

Crippen provided comments before the Budget Committee while testifying on the future of the Budget Enforcement Act (BEA). The latest extension of the BEA was passed by Congress in 1997 in the form of the Balanced Budget Act.

Over the past three years, the spending levels contained in the Balanced Budget Act have been exceeded by Congress because budgetary surpluses were realized much earlier than had been expected, Crippen said. As a result, Congress voted to waive the caps established in the Act or find other ways to boost discretionary spending over the caps.

Crippen said that the effectiveness of the BEA has been compromised by Congress' unwillingness to limit discretionary spending. "In 1999 and 2000, lawmakers were criticized for enacting record amounts of emergency spending and for excessively using advance appropriations, obligation delays, and timing shifts to appropriate more funds than the caps," Crippen said. "The root of the problem, however, was the base levels of discretionary appropriations allowed under those caps. Those levels were not supported by a consensus of lawmakers."

Crippen recommended providing more flexibility to appropriators and budgeteers to "adjust spending priorities within (spending) caps." He said that appropriators are hampered by "sublimits" for certain categories of spending, such as highways and transit.

The June 29 vote on the organization resolution culminated weeks of negotiations between party leaders, primarily over the issue of how judicial nominations by the President would be handled. That issue was quietly settled when Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) sent a joint letter stating that the nomination process for Supreme Court nominees would be handled according to historic precedent.

The adoption of the resolution officially gives Democrats control over the Senate committees. Under the agreement, in lieu of removing a Republican member from each committee, an additional Democrat will be added to the committees, thereby breaking the former 50/50 split between members.

Over the past two weeks numerous committees held hearings, led by new Democratic chairs, even though debate continued over organizational issues. The Senate Appropriations Committee has already cleared the Interior Appropriations bill, and it is slated to address the FY 2001 supplemental bill on July 9.

Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. is embarked on what a senior House staff member described as a "jihad" against earmarking, which target spending on such home-district projects as roads, parks, museums or dams. The Post contends his efforts have caused some tension between Congressional GOP leaders and the Republican White House - and longtime staffers close to the Congressional side of things defend the practice.

"There can be winners and losers, and it is a contact sport," said James W. Dyer, clerk and staff director of the House Appropriations Committee. "But I think both sides come out all right in the end."

Dyer said having the earmarked degree of congressional input into the budget is healthy. "I will make a deal with the administration, that if they do not direct money to politically popular programs then I will not direct money to politically popular programs ... We are not the only ones who are picking and choosing," he said.

Figures compiled by congressional staff show that House members have requested 18,898 earmarks in the spending bills now moving through Congress. Approval of them all would cost $279 billion, about as much as the yearly Pentagon budget.

Daniels suggests earmarks have "gotten out of hand" and move funds from higher priorities. They also can have the effect of undercutting states' ability to set financial agendas to cover their own needs, Daniels said.

Congressman C.W. Bill Young, the Florida Republican who chairs the House Appropriations Committee, said, "The Constitution provides that the United States Congress is the appropriating agency of the federal government. Members of Congress have the right to offer recommendations to appropriations bills on how money should be spent."

Lawmakers learn a lot about their constituents' needs when they go to their districts, Young said. If a federal agency expresses "a very strong negative" about a proposed earmark, "we won't do it," he said. Young also said cuts will be made elsewhere in the budget, if necessary, to meet spending targets.

Daniels - whose efforts against earmarks included knocking out $84 million in research grants earmarked by legislators in the agriculture department bill - saw nearly all of them restored by Congress.

The bill, H.R. 2326, was introduced June 27 by Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-NY) who chairs the House Science Committee, and is expected to be included by the Committee in the energy package on which it is scheduled to vote on July 11. In a statement Boehlert said that the bill would be an "important addition" to the President's energy proposals, and would complement provisions for tax incentives for alternative fueled vehicles.

Boehlert added, "In the long run, alternative fuel vehicles will obviously have to succeed in the marketplace entirely on their own. But the federal government should be doing more to encourage the development and deployment of alternative vehicles because there are clear public benefits and the technology will develop too slowly without incentives."

The EAS program was enacted 23 years ago at the onset of airline deregulation, in an attempt to ensure that small airports did not lose service. In 1996 the program was permanently funded at $50 million, and certain service criteria were established to limit EAS eligibility. The Administration's budget proposal this year recommended tightening the criteria still further and funding part of the program from the Airport Improvement Program. Both the recommendations were rejected by the House Appropriations Committee.

In its committee report, however, the committee notes that some $13 million dollars beyond the $50 million is necessary to maintain current EAS service. They note that subsidies range from roughly $39 to as much as $358 per passenger at the 18 airports that might otherwise have been eliminated from the tighter criteria.

The proposed combination of the nation's second-largest and sixth-largest airlines has been the focus of Justice Department antitrust scrutiny since it was placed on the table. The two airlines had set an August 1, 2001 deadline for completing the merger, and if it is called off, United will have to pay US Airways $50 million, the Washington Post reported.

The Associated Press reported that two key members of the U.S. Senate, Herb Kohl of Wisconsin and Michael DeWine of Ohio, had publicly stated they were pleased by the apparent end of the merger attempt.

Kohl - the chairman of the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee and DeWine, the panel's ranking member - said ``This merger, if permitted to occur, would have resulted in less choice and higher fares for millions of American air travelers.''

However, some analysts suggested United may simply be engaging in brinksmanship to attempt to get a better price for US Airways.

An NHTSA study released on Tuesday showed that 2,472 people died in motorcycle accidents in 1999, the most recent year for which full statistics are available. That is the largest number since 1991; the number of motorcycle deaths rose 17 percent between 1997 and 1999, NHTSA said.

However, NHTSA cannot attribute the rise in deaths to particular causes, although it does note that more motorcycles are on U.S. roads - the 4.2 registered in 1999 are 9 percent more than were registered in 1997. Further, the motorcycles on the road appear to be larger: in 1990, the average size of a cycle involved in a fatal was 769 cubic centimeters; in 1999, the average size was 922 cc.

"Unfortunately, the increase in motorcycle popularity has been followed by a rise in fatalities," said U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta.

According to the NHTSA study, 41 percent of motorcyclists in fatal crashes were speeding, almost half who died in single-vehicle crashes were driving under the influence, and nearly one in six were driving without a valid license.

Most of those killed were between ages 20 and 29, though a growing contingent of motorcyclists involved in fatal accidents are over 40.

Yermack, president of PB Farradyne - the Rockville, Maryland-based ITS arm of Parsons Brinckerhoff - said "I think 511 is really going to help people get route-specific information" including their corridor, their route, or their transit line B"511 provides access to much more fine-grain information" than people can currently obtain.

Noting that the Cincinnati and northern Kentucky metro area launched the nation's first 511 system on June 11, Yermack said Arizona, Minnesota, Utah and the San Francisco area are expected to follow suit shortly. Miami, Florida and the Interstate 81 corridor in Virginia are also expected to be on board soon.

511, authorized by the Federal Communication Commission last year, aims to replace an estimated 300 separate telephone lines nationwide that provide traveler information to local areas.

Toronto-based Laidlaw, Inc., which operates the Greyhound bus line and a school bus fleet, has filed for protection from creditors in both the United States and Canada, the Associated Press reported.

The Tunnel Management System (TMS) is the first-ever comprehensive undertaking to produce a complete inventory of the nation's tunnels, with procedures for proper inspection, record-keeping, maintenance, and rehabilitation.

Monro has 30 years of transportation-related experience. She most recently served as chief of staff for Congressman Mac Collins, and prior to that was chief of staff to FRA Administrator Gilbert Carmichael. Monro also served as special assistant for aviation policy to former U.S. DOT Secretary Sam Skinner.

The organization's study, "Ending the Gasoline Price Spiral: Consumer Friendly Policies to Stop the Wild Ride," concludes that a growing industry concentration has allowed refiners and marketers to decrease capacity for refining and storage. The two can then withhold supplies in individual markets. The report shows that between 1994 and 1999, 10 percent of the nation's refineries and branded gasoline stations were closed; 70 refineries have been closed within the past 15 years. In that same time frame, petroleum storage facilities were reduced by 15 percent.

The June 22 chain-reaction crash, involving ignition of gasoline from a tanker truck, so severely damaged an interstate bridge that the highway initially was closed for four miles in one direction between Parsippany and Denville while NJDOT workers rushed to build a temporary ramp crossing. An attempt to open that to use, however, proved problematic as hot weather kept the asphalt used in the temporary structure from cooling sufficiently, allowing ruts to form in the relatively deep asphalt.

Beginning January 1, state police can hand out a $1,000 fine and suspend a driver's license for one year if the accident-causing motorist was, for example, talking on a cell phone, eating, or changing the radio. "People have moved their homes and businesses into their vehicles, and until cars can drive themselves, we have to keep the public's safety in mind," New Castle Police Chief Jim Murphy told the Concord Monitor.

The plan begins this month with the sale of more than $200 million in federal bonds. Nearly $2 billion goes to high occupancy vehicle lanes, $4 billion for expanded rail and bus service, and $4 billion on highway expansion and development.

Barnes focused his plan on providing more transit options for commuters while easing gridlock for those who still choose to drive. He said in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "We're trying to get ahead of the curve instead of reacting to the crisis. What if we didn't do any of this? What would congestion be like in 2020?"

The poll reports 78 percent of the public would vote for a 0.4 percent increase in the six- county Regional Transportation District sales tax. The funds would speed up construction of projects totaling $5 billion, including highway widening, more bus and carpool lanes, light-rail extensions, and two regional commuter rail lines.

The Colorado Department of Transportation wants to wait at least two years before the tax increase vote. CDOT Executive Director Tom Norton told the Rocky Mountain News that "the timing of a vote is less important than the fact that the highway and transit interests demonstrate they can work together to bring the projects forward."