Bush Budget Includes Increases for Truck Safety, Security
President Bush's 2006 budget proposes cutbacks in many federal programs - but not in the key truck program at the Department of Transportation.
If the budget is accepted by Congress, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration would get a 5% increase, from $443 million this fiscal year to $465 next year. Included would be slots for an additional 23 employees, for a total of 1,121.
Overall DOT spending would go up by just under a billion dollars, to $59.5 billion. That reflects increases in non-discretionary funds, such as the Highway Trust Fund, which gets its income from fuel and excise taxes. Discretionary funding at DOT would fall, partly because of the administration's proposal to cut practically all of Amtrak's funds.
Lower discretionary funding at DOT mirrors proposed cutbacks in nine other federal departments. The Environmental Protection Agency would take a 5.6% cut, for example, and the Department of Agriculture would lose almost 10%, due in part to proposed cuts in payments to farmers. The Departments of Defense and Homeland Security, on the other hand, are slated for increases.
Homeland Security, whose budget calls for a 6.5% increase over last year, also is proposing organizational changes that will affect truck security.
Right now, trucking issues such as fingerprinting and background checks on hazmat drivers are handled by the department's Transportation Security Administration. DHS wants to transfer this program to a new agency, to be called the Office of Screening Coordination and Operations, called SCO for short. The Transportation Worker Identity Credential program also would be transferred to SCO.
The intent is to consolidate all of the department's terrorist-related screening programs into a single agency as a cost-reduction measure, said TSA spokesperson Deirdre O'Sullivan.
The FMCSA budget includes $189 million for safety rulemaking, compliance enforcement, border operations, safety education, physical certifications for drivers, information and analysis and safety technology. Hazardous materials safety would get $10 million, and hazmat security would get $8 million. Enforcement of household goods regulations would get $2 million, and the agency would get $24 million for programs to improve its performance.
Included in the FMCSA budget is the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program, which sends money to the states to pay for enforcement. The budget calls for a total of $232 million in MCSAP funds, $10 million of which would be designated specifically for hazmat enforcement.
The budget has a long way to go before it is made final. Early reaction from Capitol Hill indicates that Congress will contest many of the decisions that the President has proposed. Truck safety programs generally are not among the most controversial budget items, however, so FMCSA funding may emerge close to what the White House wants.
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