President Barack Obama signed into law the fiscal year 2011
budget, which eliminates additional high-speed rail funding and caps at 46,000
the number of full-time Transportation Security Administration employees. At
$1.049 trillion, the finalized budget is $78.5 billion less than Obama
proposed.
For the Department of Transportation, in addition to cutting
new high-speed rail funding, the budget rescinds $400 million in previous-year
funds. It also designates $9.5 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration,
of which $4.5 billion is to be derived from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund.
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security received a
total of $41.8 billion in discretionary funding, down 2 percent from the prior
year. The budget requires DHS to submit a detailed report to Congress on
"the resources being devoted to develop more advanced integrated passenger
screening technologies," and "labor savings from the deployment of
improved technologies for passengers and baggage screening and how those
savings are being used to offset security costs or reinvested to address
security vulnerabilities."