Transportation, Treasury, and Independent Agencies Appropriations Act, 2004

TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2004

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Senate amendments to H.R. 2989, the Department of Transportation, Treasury and General Government Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2004. This is the first time that the Senate will debate an appropriations bill that combines these critically important Government functions.

As my colleagues know, at the beginning of this year, the Appropriations Committee combined the Transportation Subcommittee with the former Treasury, Postal and General Government Subcommittee. We were particularly fortunate to have Senator SHELBY as our chairman, especially since he is perhaps the only Senator who has chaired both the Transportation Subcommittee and Treasury Postal Subcommittee at different times.

Ever since the Senate adopted this year's final budget resolution, I have worried that the Appropriations Committee would not have sufficient resources to meet our needs and to make the investments we must make to improve our country. Today it is clear that my concerns were well-founded, not only with this appropriations bill, but with others the Senate has debated this year. However, despite the limited allocation that was granted to our subcommittee, I think this bill is well-balanced in meeting the needs of many of the competing Government functions that we are required to fund.

I would like to highlight a few elements of the bill, starting with funding for America's highways.

I am especially proud that this bill proposes a highway obligation ceiling of $33.84 billion. That is real progress. It is almost $4.6 billion more than the administration recommended, and it is $2.25 billion more than fiscal year 2003. Just in the area of highway funding, our subcommittee has over the past 3 years has funded the Federal-aid Highway Program at $13 billion more than the levels recommended by the Bush administration. I have always recognized the critical importance of highway funding, and that is why, when I chaired the subcommittee, the bill we reported out restored every penny of the $8.6 billion cut that was proposed in the Bush administration's budget for that year. This year, under Senator SHELBY's leadership, we are continuing our progress in addressing America's deteriorating highway infrastructure. Again this year, we propose a historically high level of highway funding of $33.84 billion. In addition, our bill increases funding for highway safety activities at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to try to reverse a disturbing increase in highway fatalities, especially deaths associated with drunk driving.

For the Federal Aviation Administration, the bill proposes appropriations and obligation ceilings of just under $14 billion. That is roughly a half a billion dollar increase over the level approved for fiscal year 2003. I also want to note that our half a billion dollar increase includes a $100 million increase in the airport grants program.

I want to take a moment to make some observations about Amtrak. The bill before us includes $1.346 billion for Amtrak. Let me put that number in context. It is $454 million below the level requested by Amtrak's board of directors and its president, David Gunn. It is $454 million below the level that the Amtrak board says it needed to make progress on the railroad's deferred capital needs while operating the entire national system. And it is $454 million below the level assumed in the Senate-passed budget resolution.

The Bush administration's budget for fiscal year 2004 singled out Amtrak for a 14 percent cut in funding down to the level of $900 million. Amtrak's president has made it quite clear in testimony before several committees that adoption of the administration's proposed level of $900 million will mean certain bankruptcy of the railroad. It will mean the end of service to the thousands of daily Amtrak riders and the ten of thousands of mass transit riders whose commuter rail systems depend on continued Amtrak service. The level of funding recommended by the Appropriations Committee of $1.346 billion will be barely enough to enable Amtrak to operate all of its services for fiscal year 2004. This fact has been confirmed in testimony by the Department of Transportation Inspector General before the Senate Commerce Committee.
The increase above last year is directed to accommodate the nondiscretionary cost increases that will burden the railroad in fiscal year 2004, including cost increases associated with mandated pay raises for employees under contract: and, automatic increases in debt service payments associated with debt that the railroad has already taken on.

There is no question that the level of Amtrak funding in the bill is more than some Senators would like and less than other Senators would like. In my view, as the ranking member of this subcommittee, I do not believe that there are other areas in this bill where other Amtrak resources can be found. I believe the level of funding in this bill will allow the authorizing committees to continue to work on reform legislation and hopefully address the long-term financial needs of the railroad, including its sizable backlog of critical capital investments.

I would like to mention a few other funding highlights concerning the IRS and GSA. For the IRS, the bill before us includes $10.35 billion, including very sizable amounts to help the IRS move forward in modernizing its information technology infrastructure. For the General Services Administration, the bill includes appropriations as well funding limitations in excess of $6.4 billion. The subcommittee was able to make progress on the construction on a limited number of new courthouses.
We followed the recommendations of the Judicial Conference, even though these courthouses were not funded in the President's budget and were largely unfunded in the House-passed bill.

So, in conclusion, I stand in strong support of this bill. While overall it does not have as many resources as I think are needed to address all of our transportation infrastructure, transportation safety, drug prevention, election reform, and other needs, I think it does an outstanding job addressing these competing needs in a balanced way, under the funded ceiling that was given to the subcommittee due to the budget resolution.

I want to thank Chairman Shelby for the very cooperative and collegial approach that he always brings to this process. When it comes to allocating funds for Members' priority projects, whether it is for highways, mass transit or Federal building construction, Senator Shelby and I work together to meet Senators' highest priority requests. The process was balanced and fair, without regard to political affiliation or geography, and I continue to be indebted to him for the fair-mindedness that he consistently brings to this process.

I urge my colleagues to pass this bill and help our country make important progress in transportation, safety and critical infrastructure.

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I support the amendment offered by my friend from North Dakota.

I am a cosponsor of bipartisan legislation that was introduced earlier this year that would allow travel between the United States and Cuba.

Current policy with regard to Cuba, as enforced by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, permits travel to Cuba only with permission in the form of a license from the Treasury office for certain reasons such as to visits relatives, or for journalism, religious, or humanitarian purposes.

According to Treasury documents, between 1996 and 2003, about one-third of Cuba travel cases opened for investigation were referred for civil penalty enforcement action. Typical penalty assessments for unauthorized travel range from $3,000 to $7,500.

For 40 years, the United States has maintained an isolationist position toward Cuba, and the current regime has remained throughout that time. I believe that permitting travel to Cuba would help demonstrate to Cuban citizens what a democracy is all about.

Mr. President, it is time to lift the travel restrictions to Cuba.

I urge the adoption of this amendment.

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the events of the last Presidential election highlighted the importance of election reform and the need to replace antiquated and faulty voting machines. The Help America Vote Act, HAVA, was enacted last year to address these issues and to establish new minimum requirements that all States must meet in the conduct of Federal elections. My home State of Washington is struggling with implementing and paying for the requirements of HAVA due to our heavy reliance on vote-by-mail ballots.

Last year, the bill included $1.5 billion for election reform, but that funding was not part of the subcommittee's initial allocation. The full committee provided this funding in addition to our subcommittee allocation.

I am in agreement that the $1.5 billion is necessary and should be provided for election reform. But we do not have the available funding for that purpose in our bill, so it will be necessary to waive the Budget Act. During consideration of the budget resolution, I was not able to vote for election reform funding due to the competing needs of the agencies under the jurisdiction of this subcommittee. So I am comfortable with the amendment offered by Senator DODD, which waives the Budget Act for this important purpose.

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Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, more than 2 years ago the Senate began a journey to help improve our military readiness by replacing the outdated Air Force asset with 100 new Boeing 767 air refueling tankers. In spite of the best efforts of the Air Force to maintain that tanker fleet, those planes are outdated and cost billions of dollar to maintain.

In the 2 years that have passed since we first began discussing replacing our Nation's tanker fleet, the KC-135s have grown older, more corroded, and less safe. It is a testament to the resourcefulness of the flying men and women of our Air Force that these planes are still flying as well as they are.

Over the past several days, Senator Cantwell and I have engaged in a very productive series of meetings and discussions with Chairman Stevens and Chairman Warner, ranking Members Levin and Inouye. We were here late last night, as Senator Warner indicated, and all day long working with our colleagues on a way to move this forward. I am really pleased we have worked our way through some very big issues. The leaders of our Senate Armed Services Committee agree we do need to provide the Air Force a way to begin to recapitalize its aging tanker fleet with new Boeing 767s. I am proud Senator Warner and Senator Levin agree Boeing airframes will help our air men and women protect our Nation and advance our security around the world.

I had the honor of meeting with a number of people who fly these planes. I am proud we are finally working our way to bring some new planes to these brave young men and women.

These planes are critical. They are the backbone of America's air power capability. The importance of replacing them cannot be overstated. The Warner-Levin proposal is a great step in the right direction. It is finally going to allow Boeing to begin producing state-of-the-art KC-767 aircraft right away with delivery of the first four tankers in 2005.

There are outstanding issues remaining, but it is clear to me today that we have a commitment finally to move forward and the Air Force is going to get the tankers it so desperately needs.

I commend Senator Warner, Senator Stevens, Senator Levin, Senator Inouye, and especially my colleague in Washington, Senator Cantwell, who spent a tremendous amount of time trying to work this issue through with all of the details. I am proud to serve with her in the Senate. She is a testament to the people who are going to be building these planes and her advocacy for them, particularly over the last several days.

I yield to my colleague from Washington.

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AMENDMENT NO. 1962

At the appropriate place insert:

SEC. 361. Section 30303(d)(3) of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (Public Law 105-178) is amended by inserting at the end:

"(D) Memphis-Shelby International Airport intermodal facility."

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Washington.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, while we are working through the last couple of amendments, let me say that I appreciate the work of Senator Shelby, all of the staff on the majority and minority side who really have done tremendous work in putting this bill together. I thank all of them for the hard work they have done, as well as my colleague, Senator Shelby, who has really done a good job today of moving this bill through. I thank him for that.

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SPEED RAIL STUDY

Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I would like to engage in a colloquy with the ranking member of the subcommittee, the Senator from Washington, PATTY MURRAY. I would like to refer to the Midwest Regional Rail Initiative which appears in the
"Next Generation High-Speed Rail Program" at $250,000. This project is a collaborative effort of nine States in the Mid-West, AMTRAK and Federal Railroad Administration. This is a 3,000 mile system plan and I am concerned that $250,000 will not enable us to fully address the environmental and engineering associated with such a large regional system. Due to the extreme budget constraints facing this subcommittee I understand that it may be difficult to find additional resources for this study. However, I have been told that it would be helpful to the Mid-West Rail Coalition if prior contributions made by member States for planning activities prior to January 1, 2001 can be counted as the required State-match under this account. I am hopeful that you will support this effort as we move to conference on this appropriations bill.

Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator from Wisconsin has highlighted an important nine-State effort regarding high-speed rail and I will do all I can in Conference to accommodate the Senator's concerns.