Bush administration's TSA budget request faces steep cuts

Congress may cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the amount President Bush requested for the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and its security programs next year.

The House in May approved $5.7 billion for TSA as part of the bill that would fund the Homeland Security Department in fiscal 2006. But the Senate in July agreed to give TSA only $5.1 billion. The president asked Congress to provide $5.6 billion for the agency, which is the largest within the department.

House and Senate appropriators plan to meet in September to negotiate the final budget numbers before sending the bill to the president.

Lawmakers also refused to meet Bush's request for a $3 increase in security-related ticket fees for airline passengers. The Bush administration estimated the fee hike would have provided TSA an extra $1.7 billion next year. The airline fees are collected to offset the costs of security upgrades and personnel at airports since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

Lawmakers adamantly rejected the proposal. "I think both houses of Congress have spoken to that very loudly in the last couple of years," Sen. Conrad Burns, R-Mont., recently told Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. "And I see no reason why you should pursue that because I don't perceive it to become a reality."

TSA, which Congress created immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and before the department itself, is responsible for every transportation system, including aviation, railways, highways, pipelines and waterways. However, funding for aviation security consumes most of the agency's budget. The House approved $4.6 billion for aviation security, and the Senate agreed to $4.5 billion.

Specifically, the House bill included $2.5 billion and the Senate included $2.3 billion for the 45,000 federal screeners at airports. Of that funding, the House directed the agency to spend $130 million to contract private-sector screeners. The Senate included $146 million for the initiative. Since 9/11, Congress repeatedly has capped the number of federal screeners at 45,000 and provided incentives for airports to hire private screeners to save money.

The House also voted to allocate $170 million for TSA to purchase explosive-detection systems to check passengers and baggage at airports. The Senate bumped up the funding to $180 million.

House and Senate appropriators directed the agency to spend not less than $40 million and $50 million respectively on advanced explosive-detection systems, which are smaller and less expensive than existing technology.

To screen cargo in the underbelly of airplanes, the House directed TSA to spend $60 million and the Senate agreed to $50 million. Both chambers said the agency must move toward screening 100 percent of cargo on passenger planes. Lawmakers repeatedly have admonished the administration for not focusing adequate resources on screening more air cargo.

For surface-transportation security, which includes rail, port and mass transit, the House and Senate approved $36 million. That amount was fiercely debated this summer after the terrorist attacks on the London mass-transit system. Several lawmakers attempted, but failed, to add more funding for rail and transit security.