"U.S. Seeks Hike in Airline Passenger Fees"

Monday, February 7, 2005

U.S. Seeks Hike in Airline Passenger Fees
By LARA JAKES JORDAN
The Associated Press


WASHINGTON (AP) - The White House asked for more money and employees to
secure U.S. borders and proposed hiking airline passenger fees to cover some
of the increases for homeland security. 

Monday's $34.2 billion Homeland Security Department budget request for 2006
also proposes reorganizing state and local funding formulas to give the most
money to high-risk areas. 

The agency is among only a few that would be spared an overall spending cut
next year. The administration proposal asks Congress for a 6.8 percent
funding increase from current levels - on top of $6.9 billion required by
law. 

"We are safer, but we are not safe," Acting Homeland Security Secretary
James Loy said, unveiling the budget plan. 

The budget was released as Homeland Security secretary nominee Michael
Chertoff was moving closer to Senate confirmation. The Senate Homeland
Security and Governmental Affairs Committee was to vote Monday night on his
nomination. 

The budget plan calls for a 10 percent increase - to $16 billion - in border
and transportation security spending. It would add 210 new border patrol
agents to fill gaps along the southwest border and coastal areas; step up
border surveillance by $19.8 million; and install technology to help customs
and border patrol agents detect weapons of mass destruction and prescreen
cargo before ships reach U.S. ports. 

Unions representing about 9,000 border patrol agents said the plan falls far
short of doubling current staff levels, as promised by legislation approved
last year. The 210 new employees would only replace about half of the agents
who left the agency over the last year, said T.J. Bonner, president of the
National Border Patrol Council. 

"It's simply not enough to keep up with the job that the American public
expects us to do, and that we want to do," Bonner said. "We'd love to
control the border, but we can't do it with the resources we have." 

Loy said the agency had to consider "competing and other very important
priorities." 

Most of the department's spending hike would be paid by collecting $4.8
billion in fees - largely by adding $3 to the cost of airline tickets for
passengers. Fees would increase in 2006 from $2.50 to $5.50 for each leg of
a round-trip ticket, and from $5 to $8 for passengers making several stops
on a one-way ticket. 

The plan sparked an immediate protest from the commercial airlines. 

"A tax on travelers is a tax on airlines," said James C. May, president and
chief executive officer of the Air Transport Association. "We believe any
new tax or fee raises ticket prices and the cost of airlines doing
business." 

The budget would cut $420 million, or 11 percent, from state and local
coordination efforts. Of $3.6 billion set aside for grants, training
programs and technical assistance for local and state first responders, $2
billion will be meted out on a risk and vulnerability priority. Loy said DHS
so far has given $17 billion to state and local authorities, and "it is time
for us to focus more on the actual threat, the risks intended to that
threat, the vulnerabilities associated with that threat." 

The budget also calls for adding a new assistant secretary for policy and
planning, following recommendations set forth in several recent studies that
criticized the department as lacking a clear focus. 

Transportation Dept. Budget at a Glance

Agency: Department of Transportation

Spending: $57.5 billion

Percentage change from 2005: -1 percent

Mandatory outlays: $1.2 billion

Total spending: $58.7 billion

Highlights:

   Would eliminate Amtrak's operating subsidy and set aside $360 million to
run trains along the Northeast Corridor if the railroad ceases operating;
the agency received $1.2 billion this year in operating subsidy and capital
investment.

   Would cut airport spending for relieving congestion and improving safety
by 13.6 percent, or $472 million, from $3.5 billion.

   Would increase spending for a new Transportation Department headquarters
building by 49 percent, to $100 million from $67 million.

President Bush has consistently proposed cutting Amtrak funding, and
Congress just as consistently has given the passenger railroad close to what
it says it needs to keep running.

Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the administration would support
more money for Amtrak if Congress restructures it.

"The current model of passenger rail service is flawed and unsustainable,"
Mineta said in a news conference.

Amtrak President David Gunn issued a statement to employees calling the
proposal "irresponsible and a surprising disappointment."

"They have no plan for Amtrak other than bankruptcy," Gunn said.

Bush would put highway spending on autopilot, with a 1 percent increase in
federal highway aid this year. More spending on popular road construction
projects would require passage of the highway bill, which is more than a
year overdue because of an impasse between Congress and the administration
over spending levels.

Bush is proposing to hire about 600 new air traffic controllers, and to
allow the Federal Aviation Administration to replace the estimated 650
controllers who will retire or leave the agency in 2006.


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