FAA inspector general: Fund systems, not salaries

If Congress increases FAA funding, it needs to put in more controls to assure that the money is spent to modernize aviation systems and is not absorbed by salaries, Transportation Inspector General Kenneth Mead told a joint hearing of the Senate Budget Committee and Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Thursday.

"If you invest in modernization, you'd be disappointed if the money goes to cost growth," he said, adding: "There ought to be an explicit linkage to cost accountability. We need a cost accounting system."

FAA Administrator Jane Garvey agreed that the FAA needs a cost accounting system, and said the agency is on its way to developing one. She said this year there has been some delay in implementing such programs, because the FAA has focused on improving air traffic control--which it sees as the most important piece of reform.

The FAA has come under fire in recent years for not doing enough oversight of the aviation system, although Garvey-who has served as administrator for two-and-a-half years-has been praised for trying to implement reforms.

Heightening the debate this year has been House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Shuster's proposal-known as AIR-21-to take the aviation trust fund off budget and attempt to get a guarantee that a certain percentage of the aviation budget will be funded by the general fund.

Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., along with many other senators on the FAA reauthorization conference committee, opposes walling off a percentage of the general funds-but is willing to compromise with Shuster to guarantee that the aviation trust fund, plus interest, will be spent on aviation.

At a speech to the National Council of State Legislatures Thursday, Shuster urged members to approach their senators to push through the FAA reauthorization bill. He said his intention was to get the bill done and through the Senate in the next 30 days.

Also at the hearing, Senate Budget ranking member Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J.-who cosponsored a bill five years ago that would have given the FAA more flexibility to run its programs-asked whether the FAA needs assurance of general funds in the way the highway system received such assurances in 1998.

Jack Basso, assistant Transportation secretary for budget and programs, said the Clinton administration has not called for such assurance-but noted that the trust fund alone will not meet the FAA's budget needs.

Responding to an earlier question from the panel, Garvey urged the senators to push forward on the reauthorization and move beyond the budget issues to focus on FAA reform.

"I don't think money is the only answer," Garvey said.