Statement of Marion C. Blakey, Administrator

Before the the House Appropriations Committee, Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies on the FY 2008 Budget Request (Oral Testimony as Prepared for Delivery)

Good morning, Chairman Olver and Congressman Knollenberg. It’s a pleasure to appear before you and the members of this subcommittee to discuss the FAA’s 2008 budget request and how it supports the financing reform proposal we submitted to Congress last month. We appreciate the oversight and leadership that this subcommittee provides in what is a historic period for aviation. Our goal, as always, is to provide the world’s safest air transportation system, and to use the taxpayer’s investment wisely.

We’re making good on both of those pledges. The system is safer than ever, but there’s little question that it’s rapidly reaching critical mass. The capacity of our airports, our runways and our skies is stretched thin. Those of us who’ve waited in the queue at Reagan National know this all too well.  All too soon, the delay-ridden days of 2006 will be the good old days unless we take action now.

We expect that by 2016, the system will be carrying one billion passengers per year. International passenger traffic is expected to grow by 70 percent in that same timeframe. Given this, we project that by 2014 we will see gridlock across the system, with delays 62 percent higher than they are today.

We have identified the problem. Capacity. And we’ve identified the solution. A “Next Generation” Air Transportation System. The bridge between the two, the way we preempt gridlock in our skies and on our runways, is the NextGen Financing Reform Act of 2007. Without real financing reform, NextGen won’t happen in time. And the longer we take to put NextGen into place, America’s economy will suffer.

Right now, we operate with a revenue stream that has no direct link to our costs. We also have major inequities between what users pay and the services they receive. The Financing Reform Act will tie costs directly to revenues and give us the funding we need for the NextGen system while maintaining the Congressional oversight that the public expects. All revenues we collect will continue to be subject to appropriation.   

Let’s be clear. U.S. leadership is at stake. Europe is moving full steam ahead with its modernization plan. Japan , India, Mexico and Canada are moving forward aggressively with the latest satellite technology. Getting bogged down in a protracted debate over who pays for the NextGen system will prevent us from actually deploying one, ceding our place as the world leader in aviation.

Let me talk a bit about what we’ve done to date to leverage the resources that taxpayers currently provide to the FAA. Ten years ago, Congress told the agency to focus on performance and become more efficient in serving our customers, and we’ve done that.

As we speak, one hundred percent of our major capital programs are on schedule and on budget. There was a day not too long ago where we fell far short of that goal. We’ve reduced layers of management and consolidated facilities where appropriate, focusing our resources on providing service to our customers. Our safety metrics speak for themselves:  four errors per million air traffic activities — making the safest mode of travel even safer.

It’s a track record that we’re very proud of, and why we’re confident that our FY08 budget request hits the mark. We’ve changed the funding lines, so operations and F&E have been replaced with a safety and operations account and an air traffic organization account, both of which more closely match our lines of business. Under our reform proposal, these accounts would be funded by a combination of fees, taxes and a significant general fund contribution.

Our 2008 request provides almost $2 billion for Safety and Operations. The bulk of that money is directed to our Aviation Safety efforts and workforce, and would increase our inspector workforce by 177 .

Our Air Traffic Organization budget provides $7 billion for operating expenses. This will fund 1,420 new air traffic controllers. We have no shortage of recruits. Far from it. This budget request makes sure that we’ll have the right number of controllers working in the right place at the right time.

The budget request provides unprecedented levels of funding for the NextGen system. Capital funding would increase by over 40 percent from $2.5 billion in FY08 to $3.5 billion by 2012. Our proposal would also grant the Administration authority to borrow up to $5 billion from the Treasury starting in 2013.

The funds would be dedicated to making capital investments in NextGen-related facilities and equipment. This would leverage our limited resources to accelerate the transition to the NextGen system. The proposal allows us to take on major new investments while spreading the cost to our users out over a five-year period, making it easier to afford.

Satellites will be the lynchpin for the next generation of aviation, specifically ADS-B. We’re operating with 1950s technology. Ground-based and radar-driven. ADS-B provides the pilot and the controller with the same situational awareness. We’re requesting $85 million in FY08 to deploy ground stations and also proceeding with a notice of proposed rulemaking to set a clear timeline for avionics equipage.

A key building block of NextGen is the System-Wide Information Management System. We’ve allotted $21 million in our 08 request. SWIM provides a common picture of the system not only to the FAA, but to the airlines, the Department of Homeland Security and to DoD as well. It will reduce the time and cost to distribute information to the right parties and improve the agility of the National Airspace System. It will do for aviation what the internet did for communication. It’s a fair comparison:  SWIM is aviation’s internet.

Our proposal provides $2.75 billion for grants in aid to airports, which will fund all of our priority safety and capacity projects. More importantly, we’ve proposed changes to the Federal funding programs that will stabilize and enhance airport funding sources.

The 2008 request also includes $140 million for research, engineering and development efforts, including a focus on the environment. We are in the process of developing a synthetic jet fuel that will burn cleaner and have fewer emissions. These research projects lead to success with improved navigational procedures that save time, fuel and noise.

Each of these highlights our emphasis on doing more with the taxpayer’s money. We are committed to safety, and we’re committed to results. The track record shows that we’re achieving both. Thank you.