On December 30, 2005, President Bush signed the FY2006 Department of Defenseappropriations bill into law ( P.L. 109-148 ). That bill included a provision (Section 3801) rescindingone percent of all non-emergency federal discretionary funding for FY2006. The bill also provided$2.8 billion in supplemental funding to the Department of Transportation for response to theconsequences of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. On November 30, 2005, President Bush signed H.R. 3058 into law ( P.L.109-115 ). The bill had been passed by Congress on November 18. (1) The bill provided $60.7 billionin net budgetary resources for the Department of Transportation, less than either the House or Senateversions, but $1.0 billion (1.6%) more than the FY2005 enacted level and $2.4 billion (4.1%) morethan the Administration requested. On November 2, 2005, the House Committee on Appropriations published a revisedsuballocation of budget allocations for FY2006 ( H.Rept. 109-264 ). Among the changes made bythis report were a reduction in the suballocation ("302(b) allocation") for the House AppropriationsCommittee Transportation-Treasury-HUD-The Judiciary-DC Subcommittee. The revisedsuballocation for discretionary budget authority was $65.9 billion, $1 billion less than the previoussuballocation (and $1 billion less than the discretionary funding level in the House-passed versionof the FY2006 transportation appropriations bill, which also funds several other federal agencies). Most transportation appropriations funding comes from trust funds, and for budgetary purposes isnot considered discretionary spending. However, a portion of aviation and transit funding, and allrail funding (including Amtrak), comes from discretionary funds. On October 20, 2005, the Senate passed H.R. 3058 , the FY2006 Departmentsof Transportation, Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, The Judiciary, District ofColumbia, and Independent Agencies Appropriations bill. The Senate provided $64.2 billion for theDepartment of Transportation, $4.2 billion over the FY2005 enacted level and $5.9 billion over theAdministration's request for FY2006. The Senate bill provided $1.45 billion for Amtrak, for whichthe Administration had requested no funding, and also included several provisions affecting Amtrakoperations. On August 10, 2005, the President signed into law P.L. 109-59 , the Safe, Accountable,Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU), whichreauthorized federal surface transportation programs. Table 1. Status of FY2006 Department of TransportationAppropriations (H.R. 3058) UC: unanimous consent The budget for DOT includes both budget and contract authority for expenditures drawn fromboth trust funds and general funds, expended through both formula and discretionary programs. Most of DOT's funding is in the form of contract authority, is drawn from trust funds, and isexpended through formula programs. Table 2. DOT Budget by Funding Source (billions of dollars) *Totals in this table do not reflect rescissions of contract authority, and so differ from other totalsin this report. Source: Budget Authority table provided by the House Committee on Appropriations. Figures maydiffer from the figures in the Administration budget documents. Figures reflect the across-the-board0.83% rescission imposed by the FY2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act, and emergencyappropriations for FY2005. "Trust Funds" figures equal 'limitations on obligations' plus 'exempt obligations.' Table 3. Funding Trends for Transportation Appropriations FY2000-FY2006 (billions of current dollars) Source: United States House of Representatives, Committee on Appropriations, ComparativeStatement of Budget Authority tables from fiscal years 1999 through 2006, except FY2006 Senatefigure is from S.Rept. 109-109 . a. Figures for Department of Transportation appropriations for FY1999-FY2003 have been adjustedfor comparison with FY2004 and later figures by subtracting the United States Coast Guard,the Transportation Security Administration, the National Transportation Safety Board, andthe Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, and by adding the MaritimeAdministration. b. FY2001 figures reflect 0.22% across-the-board rescission. c. FY2003 figures reflect 0.65% across-the-board rescission. d. FY2004 figures reflect 0.59% across-the-board rescission. e. FY2005 figures reflect 0.83% across-the-board rescission. f. FY2006 figures do not reflect 1.0% across-the-board rescission or $2.8 billion supplemental. Table 4. Department of TransportationAppropriations (in millions of dollars -- totals may notadd) Note: Figures are from a budget authority table provided by the House Committeeon Appropriations, except Senate Committee figures from budget table in S.Rept.109-109 . Because of differing treatment of offsets, the totals will not always matchthe Administration's totals. The figures within this table may differ slightly fromthose in the text due to supplemental appropriations, rescissions, and other fundingactions. Columns may not add due to rounding or exclusion of smaller programline-items. a. These figures reflect the 0.83% across-the-board rescission included in P.L.108-447 . b. These amounts are in addition to the $50 million annual authorization for theEssential Air Service program; thus, the total FY2005 funding would be $102million ($50 million + $52 million). c. The FY2006 figure does not include the 1.0% across-the-board rescission or the$2.8 billion supplemental. The Administration's FY2006 budget proposed a DOT budget of $58.3billion, $1.4 billion (2%) below FY2005's enacted level of $59.7 billion (see Table4 ). (2) Themajor funding changes from FY2005 are in the requests for Amtrak ($1.2 billion(100%) below FY2005) and in the Federal Aviation Administration's AirportImprovement Program ($500 million (14%) below FY2005). The budget requestconformed to the basic outline of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century as extended (TEA-21; P.L. 105-178 ) which authorized spending on highways,highway safety, and transit (see Appendix 2 for more information on this authorizingact), though the request also reflected changes proposed in the Administration'sreauthorization proposal (108th Congress: H.R. 2088 / S. 1072 ). (3) The FY2006 budget also reflects a statutory change to one of the DOT'sAdministrations. The Norman Y. Mineta Research and Special ProgramsImprovement Act, which was enacted as P.L. 108-426 (118 Stat. 2423), created twonew operating administrations in place of the former Research and Special ProgramsAdministration (RSPA): the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administrationand the Research and Innovative Technology Administration. The House Committee on Appropriations recommended $62.8 billion;increases over the requested amounts were provided for Federal AviationAdministration, the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal TransitAdministration, and Amtrak. The House approved two transportation-relatedamendments to the bill, increasing the level of funding for Amtrak beyond theCommittee-recommended level, and striking the Committee-recommended provisionbarring federal funding for Amtrak routes with per-passenger subsidy levels of $30or more. Floor amendments increased the DOT funding in the bill as passed by theHouse to $63.5 billion. The Senate Committee on Appropriations recommended $64.2 billion;increases over the House proposal were provided for the Federal HighwayAdministration (FHWA) the Federal Railroad Administration (mostly for Amtrak),while less funding was proposed for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) andthe Federal Transit Administration (FTA) than was proposed by the House. TheSenate-passed bill followed the Committee's recommendations. The conference bill provided $60.7 billion, an increase of $1.8 billion (3%)over the FY2005 enacted level. In its FY2006 request, the Administration once again proposed that the sizeof the EAS program be reduced, capping the program at the $50 million level. TheHouse Committee on Appropriations recommended $104 million for the program,up slightly from $102 million enacted for FY2005. This was reduced to $50 millionduring House floor consideration when $54 million was struck on a point of orderrelating to the source of the funding. The Senate Committee recommended $110million; the Senate approved this amount. The conference agreement provided $110million. The EAS program was established in 1978, when Congress deregulatedcommercial aviation. There was concern that airlines would drop service to smallerairports with low levels of ridership. In order to preserve air service to smallcommunities, Congress established the EAS program, which subsidizes the cost toairlines of providing service to these communities. The EAS program is operatedthrough the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, and receives its authorizedfunding from designated user fees collected from overflights of United Statesterritory by foreign aircraft. The EAS program has had an annual authorized funding level of $50 millionfor the last several years. The overflight funding mechanism, however, has neverprovided this much annual funding, so funding has been provided from other sourcesto make up the difference. In addition, for the past few years Congress has providedadditional funding in order to enable the program to serve more airports. The EASprogram continues to enjoy significant support in Congress.