(This analysis is a preview of the DOT section in the forthcoming
AAAS Report XXIX: Research and Development
FY 2005, a comprehensive look at the President’s budget for R&D
in FY 2005. This analysis contains revised AAAS estimates of DOT R&D,
different from figures presented in the AAAS Preliminary
Analysis of February 5. More tables and continually updated supplemental
materials on R&D in the FY 2005 budget can be found on the AAAS R&D
Web site at http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd.)
Highlights
- Department of Transportation (DOT) R&D funding would rise 6.7 percent
to $755 million in FY 2005 (see Table II-15).
There would be a big boost in highway R&D, due to a perennial proposal
to shift some resources away from state highway grants to highway research;
similar proposals have been rejected by Congress in past years.
- R&D in
the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would decline 10.4 percent
to $222 million as aviation security-related R&D shifts from the
FAA to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
DOT R&D in the FY 2005 Budget
R&D is a
relatively small part of the DOT budget and would total $755 million
in FY 2005, an increase of $48 million or 6.7 percent, out of a total
DOT budget of $58.4 billion (see Table II-15).
More than half of the DOT budget goes to the Federal Highway Administration
(FHWA), mostly for spending out of the highway trust funds for road
projects managed by state and local governments.
Transportation funding increased dramatically
beginning in FY 1999 as a result of the six-year (FY 1998-2003) reauthorization
of transportation programs known as the Transportation Equity Act for
the 21st Century (TEA-21), which governs spending out of
the highway trust funds. The law expired last September, and a temporary
funding authorization is in place through the end of February until
Congress can agree on a new reauthorization law. Another extension,
through either the end of April or June, will be necessary to give Congress
more time. The old law specified that transportation tax revenues would
be devoted exclusively to transportation, and specified formulas for
allocating these funds. As a result of burgeoning revenues from transportation
taxes, DOT’s budget climbed from $44 billion in FY 1998 all the way
to $67 billion in FY 2001. However, these revenues have dropped off
significantly in recent years as a result of a stagnant economy, and
thus total DOT funding has leveled off. In addition, the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard transferred to the
new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in March 2003, bringing the
DOT budget down to its current level of $58.6 billion.
Last year, President
Bush proposed a reauthorization of TEA-21, but Congress became bogged
down in disputes over whether to increase the federal gasoline tax to
finance increase in transportation projects. In the absence of an authorization
bill, the FY 2004 budget mostly assumes extension of TEA-21 provisions
into FY 2004. In FY 2005, President Bush’s budget would reduce DOT spending
by 0.3 percent down to $58.4 billion, but Congress is likely to approve
a transportation authorization containing much higher funding. The Administration’s
transportation authorization bill proposal totals $256 billion over
six years, while the Senate approved a $318 billion bill. The House
bill may go as high as $375 billion, but will probably end up closer
to the Senate level.
Nearly
all the funds from the transportation authorization bill will go to
the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for funds to state and local
governments to finance road projects. Within a declining FHWA budget,
however, the Bush Administration budget would increase FHWA R&D
by 23.7 percent for a total of $394 million (see
Table II-15). The Administration proposes a reshuffling of the FHWA
accounts to allow for more spending on highway R&D at the expense
of funds to state and local governments, but in the past Congress has
rejected similar proposals and maximized state and local funding. FHWA
spending on surface transportation research would increase by more than
50 percent, mostly for DOT laboratory-performed research on highway
operations, safety, and pavements. The FHWA total includes $76 million
for R&D in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) program, up slightly from
this year. The largest portion of FHWA R&D funding goes to state
and local governments for their transportation-related research projects;
this funding would increase slightly to $151 million.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) would receive $222 million for
its R&D programs, a decline of 10.4 percent. FAA’s R&D addresses
a number of aviation-related topics, including weather research, aircraft
safety technology, human factors research, and development of ‘free
flight’ technologies to improve aviation system capacity. The FAA’s
R&D portfolio used to be much larger in the $300 to $400 million
range annually before the September 2001 terrorist attacks, but most
of its aviation security R&D portfolio has transferred to the Transportation
Security Administration (TSA), now housed within the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS). FAA investments in aircraft safety technology and aviation
advanced technology development would decline in the FY 2005 budget
proposal.
Figure 1. (click
on the image to view or download a color, full-size PDF version of the
chart)
Because of large increases for
DOT R&D in FY 2001 and FY 2002 responding to the September 11 terrorist
attacks on U.S.
aviation, DOT’s support for R&D reached a peak in FY 2002, after adjusting
for inflation. DOT’s R&D crested in FY 1995 and then suffered a steep
decline, particularly in the FAA, as a result of efforts to bring the federal
budget into surplus (see Figure 1). FAA and FHWA R&D then increased in the late 1990s, and with the help of emergency
R&D funds for aviation security R&D in the aftermath of September 11 rose
to the FY 2002 peak. But with the transfer of aviation security R&D to the
TSA, now in DHS, recent reductions in transportation tax revenues, and the
transfer of the Coast Guard and its R&D program to DHS, DOT R&D
declined sharply in FY 2003 and held steady this year.
Figure 2. (click
on the image to view or download a color, full-size PDF version of the
chart)
The majority of DOT’s R&D is
performed by DOT laboratories and industry (see Figure 2). Universities and
colleges perform just 5 percent DOT’s R&D. Unlike the other large R&D
funding agencies, a large proportion (most of the ‘other’ category) is
performed by state and local governments. Most of this money comes from the
FHWA under formula grants determined by the highway authorization bill.
- February 25, 2004
AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program
1200 New York Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20005
(202) 326-6607; -6600
www.aaas.org/spp/rd
