The fiscal-year 2011 budget proposed by the Obama administration includes spending increases for the departments of Transportation and Homeland Security and various measures that would, in the short and long term, impact corporate travel. Appropriations include a sizable boost in funding allocated for a new air traffic control system, high-speed rail development, more federal air marshals and body scanners at airports, and other aviation security projects. The budget, which would take effect Oct. 1, 2010, once finalized by the U.S. Congress, also omits any new aviation system user fees and includes recommendations for cutting travel costs in several government agencies.
DOT's total budget would be about $79 billion, up about $2 billion from the current year level. "It's a relatively modest increase," according to DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, in a Feb. 3 posting to his official blog. "We think it's enough, though our goals for the year are anything but modest."
The DOT budget includes $1.14 billion in funding for the NextGen air traffic control system, representing a 32 percent jump from this year's budget. According to budget documentation, NextGen funding specifically would go toward "the transformation from a national ground-based radar surveillance system to a more accurate satellite-based surveillance system; the development of more efficient routes through the airspace; and the improvement of aviation weather information." For example, the Federal Aviation Administration would get $25 million "to improve arrival and departure procedures, giving air traffic controllers more flexibility to manage traffic through the most congested airports."
Overall, FAA would be allocated about $16.5 billion, up about 3 percent from enacted 2010 levels.
For high-speed rail, a promiment Obama agenda item, the budget calls for $1 billion "to continue the five-year, $5 billion pledge Congress made in this year’s budget to further develop this 21st century system," according to LaHood. That $1 billion per year is on top of $8 billion recently earmarked for the "first nationwide program of high-speed intercity passenger rail service" as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. That $8 billion will fund 13 high-speed rail corridors around the country and represents "the largest investment in infrastructure since the Interstate Highway System was created," according to a statement by President Barack Obama.
The DOT budget also includes $4 billion for "a new National Infrastructure Innovation and Finance Fund, which will invest in high-value projects of regional or national significance." The Air Transport Association is "pleased" that the fund "includes eligibility for aviation, and we believe that an appropriate share of these dollars should be spent on the critical element of NextGen equipage," according to a statement from CEO James May.
The proposed DOT funding also is noteworthy for what it does not include, namely new fees on airline passengers. U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, D-Ill., who serves as chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, issued a statement applauding Obama for not raising such fees. "I commend the president and Transportation Secretary [Ray] LaHood for not rehashing this issue; no aviation user fees in the budget is a big step forward," Costello said, according to an Aviation Weekreport. "The House has demonstrated in no uncertain terms that user fees are unacceptable."
According to ATA, "Perhaps the most significant part of the White House 2011 budget proposal is that it did not contain any increases in taxes and fees for airlines and their passengers for the upcoming year." ATA, however, expressed "disappointment" that the budget "reiterated the 2010 proposal to increase the aviation passenger security fee by $1 per year for three years starting in 2012."
DHS Calls For Body Screeners At '75 Percent' Of Largest Airports
In terms of aviation security, the proposed DHS budget includes $734 million for the deployment of "up to 1,000 new" body imaging devices for airport checkpointsand additional baggage screeners to detect explosives.
The 500 previously planned deployments of body imaging screeners combined with new appropriations would "place this technology in 75 percent of the country's largest airports," said acting DHS CFO Peggy Sherry, according to a DHS transcript of a Feb. 1 conference call with journalists. "This budget also includes an additional $218.9 million for personnel to operate those machines."
When asked if the body scanners would be placed at primary checkpoints, a DHS official said, "The final decision on other places has not been made. The intention is principally in primary, but there is no final decision. Right now, the process is that if you are directed to [body scanner], you have an option of going through a walk-through metal detector and having a full pat-down."
The DHS budget also would provide "an increase of $85 million" to expand the Federal Air Marshal Service to cover more international flights, Sherry said. A further $54 million is allocated "for the continued modernization and streamlining of transportation security vetting and credentialing, which will reduce duplicative Transportation Security Administration processes and systems," while another $71 million would "fund an additional 275 explosive-detection K-9 teams at airline checkpoints." An additonal $20 million would be provided for TSA "behavior-detection officers" at airport security checkpoints.
According to a DHS budget fact sheet, one "high-priority performance goal" is to, by 2012, "ensure that wait times for aviation passengers is less than 20 minutes," while improving overall aviation security.
All told, the DHS budget of $56.3 billion, "including fee funded and mandatory spending," would be up 2 percent over this year's budget, Sherry said. "The department's fiscal-year 2011 net discretionary or appropriated funding request is $43.6 billion, an increase of 3 percent over the fiscal-year 2010 enacted level."
According to a statement attributed to National Business Travel Association executive director Michael McCormick, "We were pleased to see the president's budget proposal includes recommended funding for initiatives critical to the business travel community. The budget request includes investments in aviation that will support the safe and efficient facilitation of business travelers."
Efficiency Gains Through Travel Spending Cuts
The administration also proposed several cost-cutting measures related to government travel. They include:
- $20 million from the Department of Justice (including $10 million from the Federal Bureau of Investigation) by reducing "travel expenditures … The Department of Justice will spend between $450 million and $500 million on personnel travel in 2010. In recent years, travel has increased faster than the rate of inflation, when adjusted for personnel growth."
- $12 million from the Department of the Interior "by reducing travel and relocation expenditures in 2011 through implementation of department-wide policies and practices that favor highest-priority mission travel" while "enforcing the use of teleconferencing and Web sites for exchange of information. Bureaus and offices will utilize travel ceilings to manage the top line of spending for travel and relocation. The department will promote department-wide coordination to maximize the use of existing videoconferencing facilities, and little or no implementation costs are anticipated."
- $6 million from the Department of the Treasury's Bureau of the Public Debt's "administrative expenses for facilities, procurement and travel costs ... These savings are the combination of common-sense reforms and reduced general administrative expenses. Specifically, BPD will save money through new cost-cutting initiatives, such as reducing travel and conducting more meetings via teleconferencing."
The budget also noted that "the Department of Education is implementing some common-sense cost policies," including "videoconferencing instead of travel," which would generate savings of $240,000. "The department will use videoconferencing between regions as its main method of communication. Based on a reduction of 300 trips per year at $800 per trip, the resulting savings is 2 percent of the department's overall travel budget."
Also, the Department of Energy "will plan to reduce travel budgets by 5 percent versus its 2009 travel expenditures," partly by employing videoconferencing. "The savings from this reduction will be used to assist the Office of the Chief Information Officer in implementing a strategy of enhanced reliance on video telecommunications to bring down travel costs in 2011 and beyond," according to budget documentation. "This will yield savings not only in terms of travel dollars, but also in travel time for federal workers and contractors, as well as positive externalities of increased safety from eliminating unnecessary travel and reduced greenhouse gas emissions."