According to most known authorities, the FAA budget produces a shortfall of between 6 and 12 billion dollars depending on who runs the arithmetic. Here I am referring to the Coopers and Lybrand Report and to the GRA, Inc., cost allocation study, both of which have been completed within the past six months. That 6 to 12 billion dollars, Mr. Chairman, must be made available. However, the functions that the FAA exercises and performs must be scrutinized from the standpoint of safety, an assignment being undertaken by the Commission's Aviation Safety Task Force. Mr. Chairman, we must encourage you to look at the entire system that constitutes our current, excellent air transportation system.
Competitiveness speaks for itself.
As a result of such a cost savings, low-cost transportation services are established which broaden the base of air transportation, thus generating additional tax revenues through the existing excise tax. If we expand our air transportation system, and by all estimates there is little risk that we will not expand through the year 2002, the monies generated by increased traffic should more than satisfy the requirements for the budget and provide for the finest system of air safety in the world. I ask you to recognize that our air transportation system must be based upon a cost-conscious system of air transport and not on a system that benefits those that can pay the highest fares, such as those who can charge it to corporate accounts. We have a national transportation system which must support the total traveling public, including you, me, families, the elderly, and the low-income retiree, not just those who can pay the highest rates for a first class or some other type of premium service. We ask you to focus on this and produce a financial structure for the FAA that assures that it will continue be an outstanding agency in the future, and low-fare service will be preserved.