Obama FY 2012 budget rewards DOT, DHS

Obama FY 2012 budget rewards DOT, DHS

Obama

   The White House on Tuesday unveiled a $3.7 trillion spending plan for fiscal year 2012 that would put the federal government on the path to cutting the deficit by $1.1 trillion over the course of a decade, stabilizing but not eliminating the annual deficits that add to the national debt.
   President Obama proposed cuts to 200 programs, including $1.1 billion for major airport improvements, for a total first-year saving of $33 billion, in an effort to bring spending in line with revenues. Obama said that even social programs he favored were not spared the knife. But the problem the nation faces is that the budget cutting is only happening within 12 percent of the federal budget devoted to discretionary spending. The administration and congressional Republicans have not offered ways to tackle defense or mandatory spending programs, or entitlements, such as Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare.
   The budget request calls for a five-year freeze on discretionary spending, which is expected to save more than $400 billion through 2022. Deficits beyond 2015 would almost entirely be due to interest payments the government has to make on its debt.
   Half of all agencies will experience funding reductions from 2010 levels. The Department of Transportation is not one of them.
   The administration's opening bid for the Transportation budget is $129 billion, up 66 percent from the previous enacted level, which includes front-loading $50 billion for the first year of a multiyear surface transportation spending plan that still must be debated and passed by Congress. The budget request reflects the administration's ideas for the multiyear plan, including the consolidation of 55 highway programs into five core programs and $8 billion for the first year of a $53 billion program to invest in high-speed rail.
   The new approach towards more performance-based, instead of formula-based, funding and increased accountability follows recommendations from several commissions and reports during the past three years.
   The administration's six-year proposal for surface transportation would provide $336 billion for road and bridge upgrades, a 48 percent increase from the SAFETEA-LU authorization in 2005 that expired Oct. 1, 2009; and another $119 billion, a 128 percent increase, for transit.
   The $556 billion total plan is even larger than the one that former House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar proposed two years ago (and almost $300 billion more than SAFETEA-LU), but Republican deficit hawks who control the House are expected to seek a much smaller reauthorization.
   The DOT budget would establish a National Infrastructure Bank ($5 billion, or $30 billion over six years) to leverage private capital for large-scale projects with regional or national significance.
   The president's budget requests calls for $32 billion for what are called Transportation Leadership Awards, modeled on the Department of Education's 'race to the top' program, designed to encourage states to implement DOT strategies to reform the planning, building and management of transportation systems, with a focus on multimodal and regional cooperation. Examples of best practices that states could be rewarded for include use of lifecycle cost analysis for projects, implementation of a performance-based funding distribution system and passage of a primary seatbelt law.
   The administration also wants to institutionalize and expand the popular TIGER grant program, a competitive, merit-based award for projects that provided multimodal and regional benefits, including many freight rail projects, that was started in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The stimulus bill provided $1 billion and Congress authorized a second year of funding for $600 million in 2010. The budget seeks $2 billion for what is called National Infrastructure Investments.
   The fiscal year 2012 budget also includes $1.2 billion for the NextGen air traffic control system and almost doubles funding for highway safety, including $4.9 billion for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to support tougher motor carrier enforcement.
   The White House said it plans to fund the DOT budget on a pay-as-you-go basis, without specifics on the gas tax and other revenue measures still to be worked out with Congress. The Highway Trust Fund would be expanded into a Transportation Trust Fund with four accounts, one each for highways, transit, high-speed rail and the National Infrastructure Bank.
   Among those maintaining funding levels is the Department of Homeland Security. The White House wants Congress to provide the department $57 billion, up about $1.2 billion from the enacted amount for 2011, $43.2 billion of which is non-mandatory.
   DHS agencies have identified $800 million in administrative and overhead savings in areas such as acquisition workforce, professional services contracts, printing, suppliers, travel and training, through Secretary Janet Napolitano's efficiency review, officials said.
   The DHS budget request includes:
   ' A 3 percent increase, or $301 million, in budget authority from the 2011 level for Customs and Border Protection to $11.8 billion.
   ' A 6 percent increase, or $466 million, in budget authority from the 2011 level for the Transportation Security Administration to $8.1 billion.
   ' A 2 percent increase, or $187 million, for the Coast Guard to $10.3 billion.
   ' A 13 percent decrease, or $51.3 million, to $332 million for the Domestic Nuclear Detection Office.
   ' $170 million for the Automated Commercial Environment, down $58 million from the 2011 level, but in line with the new plan to develop the program in smaller chunks. The money includes $20 million for development of a Cargo Release function.
   ' $125.7 million to sustain the deployment of 900 canine teams capable of detecting explosives at airport checkpoints, air cargo areas and mass transit stations.
   ' $57 million for procurement and deployment of radiation portal monitors and portable scanners that allow vehicles, containers and other objects to be checked for radiological or nuclear threats.
   ' $43.1 million to support 300 more Customs officers and canine inspection teams.
   ' A $17.5 million cut to the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism to $45 million, from consolidating some overhead and making technical adjustments to the 2011 base funding. ' Eric Kulisch