AAAS R&D Funding Update on R&D in DOT FY 2007 Senate Appropriations -

DOT R&D Falls in Senate Plan

Go to: -Table. Dept. of Transportation R&D in FY 2007 Senate Appropriations PDF version of this document Main R&D in the FY 2007 Budget Page Supplemental Materials: "DOT R&D Level Funded in House Plan," AAAS R&D Funding Update on R&D in FY 2007 DOT House Appropriations "DOT R&D Falls from Record High in 2007," AAAS R&D Funding Update on R&D in the FY 2007 DOT Budget AAAS Analysis of R&D in the FY 2007 Budget

Highlights  - After a dramatic increase to an all-time high in 2006 resulting from last summer’s highway bill, the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) R&D funding would decline to $793 million in the FY 2007 Senate appropriation (see Table). The Senate would cut aviation R&D, and agree with DOT’s proposal to keep increasing highway R&D. DOT R&D in FY 2007 Senate Appropriations On July 20, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved its version of the FY 2007 Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill (HR 5576), which funds the Department of Transportation (DOT) and other agencies. The Department of Transportation (DOT) funds a broad range of highway, aviation, traffic safety, rail, transit, and marine transportation programs. Its total budget would reach a record $65 billion in the Senate bill, well above current-year funding. R&D is a relatively small part of the DOT budget and would total $793 million in the FY 2007 Senate plan, a 5.4 percent cut but slightly above the request (see Table). The House would provide $807 million. Funding for aviation R&D would fall, though by less than requested, but highway R&D would continue to increase by $18 million to $397 million. (For details of the DOT request, see Chapter 13 of AAAS Report XXXI: R&D FY 2007 or the March 2 DOT R&D Funding Update. For details of House appropriations for DOT, see the June 13 R&D Funding Update.)  Transportation funding is unusual in that although funds are appropriated, as they are for other discretionary programs, minimum funding levels each year are guaranteed by transportation authorization bills. Transportation appropriators must provide the funds necessary to meet these guarantees, occasionally adding to them or modifying them, before appropriating funds for programs outside the authorization bills.  After nearly two years of stops and starts, Congress approved a new authorization bill in August 2005 that dramatically increases highway R&D funding beginning in 2006 and extending through 2009. Nearly all the funds from the transportation authorization bill, commonly called the highway bill, go to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) for state and local road projects, mostly in formula distributions but also in congressionally designated earmarked projects. FHWA’s R&D portfolio is a mixture of formula funds for state transportation R&D, earmarked R&D projects, and intramural research. The highway bill helped FHWA R&D climb 25 percent in 2006 to a record $380 million. The FY 2007 budget, still based on the multi-year highway bill, would sustain those increases with a $397 million R&D investment.  The House and now the Senate Transportation bills provide the $397 million R&D request without changes. The surface transportation research portfolio nearly doubled last year to $147 million for R&D on highway safety, pavement technologies, highway operations, environmental impacts, and other road topics, and would be sustained at that level for FY 2007. The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) portfolio of innovative technologies to improve traffic flow and reduce traffic congestion enjoyed a big boost last year from the highway bill and would be sustained at $75 million in 2007. The FHWA budget also includes state highway R&D, distributed to state and local governments to support their R&D efforts, with a 11.5 percent increase to $166 million in 2007.    The Senate would make some changes in Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) R&D, adding funds to steep proposed cuts, but would still leave the FAA R&D portfolio down 17 percent compared to this year. The FY 2007 Senate appropriation sustains flat funding for most programs in FAA’s main Research, Engineering, and Development, which is mostly focused on aviation safety, but mostly goes along with steep proposed cuts in the Facilities and Equipment portfolio of advanced technology development, ‘free flight’ technologies, and support for the Center for Advanced Aviation System Development (CAASD) in Virginia.   Figure 1. (click on the image for PDF)  Outlook and Impacts for the DOT Budget  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 (see Figure 1). But with the transfer of aviation security R&D to the DHS, recent reductions in key programs, and the transfer of the Coast Guard and its R&D program to DHS, DOT R&D declined sharply in FY 2003 and 2004 before rebounding last year and nearly reaching the 2002 funding level in 2006. The 2006 budget actually exceeds previous highs, however, because Coast Guard and aviation security R&D are now funded in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The FY 2007 Senate appropriation, after adjusting for inflation, would be a retreat from the 2006 peak.  Outlook and Next Steps  The full Senate is unlikely to debate and approve its version of the Transportation-Treasury bill until September. As a result, a compromise, final version of the bill is unlikely to see the light of day until well after the new fiscal year begins on October 1. (This analysis is one of a series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates on FY 2007 congressional appropriations. The complete series of AAAS R&D Funding Updates, including continually updated analyses of R&D in FY 2007 appropriations, is available on the AAAS R&D Web Site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd) in the “FY 2007 R&D” or the “What’s New” sections.) - August 3, 2006 AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Program 1200 New York Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20005 (202) 326-6607 AAAS R&D Web site: http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd

Table. Department of Transportation
Senate Action on R&D in the FY 2007 Budget
(budget authority in millions of dollars)
				Action by Senate
	FY 2006	FY 2007	FY 2007	FY 2007	Chg. from Request		Chg. from FY 2006
	Estimate	Request	House	Senate	Amount	Percent	Amount	Percent
Federal Aviation Administration	310	235	305	257	22	9.1%	-53	-17.1%
- Research, Eng. & Development	137	130	134	136	6	4.2%	-1	-0.8%
- Facilities and Equipment	160	97	163	113	16	16.5%	-47	-29.3%
- All Other	14	8	8	8	0	0.1%	-5	-37.9%
Federal Highway Administration	380	397	397	397	0	0.0%	18	4.6%
- Surface Transportation Res.	147	147	147	147	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
- Intelligent Transportation Sys.	75	75	75	75	0	0.0%	0	0.0%
- State Planning and Research	149	166	166	166	0	0.0%	17	11.5%
- All Other	10	10	10	10	0	0.0%	1	5.2%
Federal Transit Administration	6	8	12	8	0	0.0%	3	45.9%
Nat'l High. Traffic & Safety Adm.	58	51	55	54	4	7.4%	-3	-5.5%
Federal Railroad Administration	48	38	3	38	0	0.0%	-10	-20.5%
Office of the Secretary	15	9	9	9	0	4.8%	-6	-37.1%
Pipeline and Hazardous Materials 1/	12	12	12	12	0	0.0%	0	4.1%
Research and Innov. Tech. 1/	2	4	4	5	0	6.2%	2	87.5%
Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admin.	9	12	10	12	0	0.0%	4	43.2%
	_______	_______	_______	_______	_______		_______
Total DOT R&D 2/	838	767	807	793	26	3.4%	-45	-5.4%
DOT Budget (includes R&D components) 2/ :
Federal Aviation Administration	13,752	12,774	15,154	14,241	1,467	11.5%	489	3.6%
Federal Highway Administration	36,515	39,825	37,656	38,324	-1,501	-3.8%	1,810	5.0%
Federal Transit Administration	8,504	8,846	8,932	8,846	0	0.0%	342	4.0%
Federal Railroad Administration	1,511	1,085	1,264	1,585	500	46.1%	74	4.9%
All Other  3/	2,063	1,902	1,900	1,978	77	4.0%	-85	-4.1%
	_______	_______	_______	_______	_______		_______
Total DOT Budget	62,345	64,432	64,906	64,975	543	0.8%	2,630	4.2%
AAAS estimates based on FY 2007 appropriations bills.  Includes conduct of R&D and R&D facilities.
FY 2006 and FY 2007 request figures based on OMB R&D data and supplemental agency budget data.
Figures are rounded to the nearest million. Changes calculated from unrounded figures.
1/ Formerly the Research and Special Programs Administration.
2/ Includes budget authority from appropriations, limitation on obligations from trust funds, and other budgetary resources.
Figures are rounded to the nearest million. Percentage changes calculated from unrounded figures.
3/  Includes Office of Secretary, NHTSA, Maritime Admin., RITA, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, and others.
August 1, 2006 - AAAS estimates of Senate action.
These figures reflect amendments approved on the Senate floor.