U.S. President George W. Bush's fiscal 2007 budget request proposes to raise airport ticket taxes by $1.3 billion, after a similar bid last year failed in Congress. The budget proposal also renewed a failed effort to slash Amtrak's subsidy by 31 percent, or $900 million.
The budget request said that doubling the fee would help pay for increased security at airports. The financially struggling airline industry complained that it would end up eating the increase because competition will prevent carriers from passing all the costs onto passengers. The administration's proposal would double the fee to a flat $5 for a one-way flight, bringing total security fees to $3.3 billion. The maximum fee would remain $10.
"The single fee corresponds better with actual security screening, which normally occurs only once in a one-way trip, regardless of the number of trip segments," the budget document notes.
The Air Transport Association already is gearing up its lobbying effort in Congress to kill the fee, a spokesperson said. Critics said it especially would hurt low-cost carriers. Bush's renewed effort comes even as at least four major carriers, including Delta and American Airlines, are fighting efforts by the government to collect more than $100 million in additional fees from 2005.
At the same time, Bush seeks to cut grants for airport construction by $765 million, a 22 percent cut from last year. Some of that savings would be used to hire more air traffic controllers. The government must hire more than 1,100 controllers in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 in an effort to replace an exodus of retiring workers. The Air Traffic Controllers Union and Federal Aviation Administration are locked in a bitter fight over compensation for new hires
(BTN, Feb. 6).
Bush's proposal to cut Amtrak's subsidy is aimed at forcing the railroad, a popular alternative to flying for business travelers on the coasts, to turn a profit for the first time. "Only a constrained budget will force Amtrak to change the way it conducts business," the budget document says.
There were early indications that the proposal has little more chance of surviving than it did last year. Lawmakers from both political parties bashed the idea. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called the proposal part of a "mission to cripple" the railroad.