FEDERAL-AID AIRPORT PROGRAM TABLE 5.-Amounts apportioned to the States under the present 75-25 percent formula for fiscal years 1951-53 and the amount that would be apportioned of a $30 million appropriation under a 50–50 percent formula Secretary DEARING. Mr. Chairman, may I make it crystal clear that this is a statistical exercise; strictly hypothetical. The CHAIRMAN. Oh; it is determined by the amount of the appropriation. Secretary DEARING. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. And will be either large or small. Secretary DEARING. Right. The CHAIRMAN. According to the appropriation. Secretary DEARING. Right. The CHAIRMAN. But upon the same ratio. Secretary DEARING. That is right; this isn't a prediction on our part. The CHAIRMAN. Any questions, Senator Hunt? Senator HUNT. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I have a few, either for Mr. Lee or Mr. Dearing: Who suggested this bill, and when was it written? Secretary DEARING. In my direct testimony I indicated that the bill is the result of a full year's reappraisal of the airport program, by the Department of Commerce. The bill was prepared by the Department. Senator HUNT. I see. It didn't originate, then, in the CAA? Secretary DEARING. Well, the Civil Aeronautics Administration is a part of the Department. They have participated in the reappraisal, throughout. Senator HUNT. Let me ask you how many State aeronautical commissions you have contacted to see if they were in harmony with such a change in the apportionment of money. Secretary DEARING. I can't answer that. Can you, Mr. Lee? Mr. LEE. Senator Hunt, the State aeronautical commissions were not contacted in connection with the proposed amendment. I believe their representative is here to testify on the program. Senator HUNT. I wonder why they weren't, Mr. Lee; they are the people who have the greatest interest in this. Secretary DEARING. They were represented on the airport panel; at least, one of their members, not officially, as I understand it. The CHAIRMAN. Do you have the personnel of those two panels? Secretary DEARING. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Will you submit that for the record? Mr. LEE. Mr. Chairman, the personnel is included in Senate Document 95. We would be glad to submit it for the record. (The information is as follows:) AIRPORT PANEL OF THE TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL Jennings Randolph, panel chairman, assistant to the president, Capital Airlines, Washington, D. C. Francis A. Bolton, president, American Association of Airport Executives; superintendent, Port Columbus Airport, Columbus, Ohio. Jean H. DuBuque, executive director and secretary, National Business Aircraft Association, Inc., Washington, D. C. J. D. Durand, secretary and assistant general counsel, Air Transport Association, Washington, D. C. Joseph B. Hartranft, president, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Washington, D. C. Louis R. Inwood, past president, Airport Operators Council; director of aviation, International Airport, Philadelphia, Pa. Foster V. Jones, member, Airport Operators Council; director, Louisville and Jefferson County Air Board, Louisville, Ky. A. B. McMullen, executive secretary, National Association of State Aviation Officials, Washington, D. C. Melvin H. Nuss, treasurer, American Association of Airport Executives; director, Municipal Airport, Reading, Pa. Donald W. Nyrop, Washington counsel, Conference of Local Airlines, Washington, D. C. Thomas K. Taylor, vice president, Trans-World Airlines, Inc., Washington, D. C. R. W. F. Schmidt, manager, Tucson Municipal Airport, Tucson, Ariz. SPECIAL PANEL TO STUDY THE REPORT OF THE AIRPORT PANEL OF THE TRANSPORTATION COUNCIL Clarence E. Galston, panel chairman, president, the Motor Haulage Co., New York, N. Y. Milton W. Arnold, Air Transport Association, Washington, D. C. A. W. Frey, vice president and general traffic manager, National Oil Transport Corp., New York, N. Y. Charles H. Beard, general traffic manager, Union Carbide and Carbon Corp., New York, N. Y. John B. Keeler, consultant, Koppers Co., Inc., Pittsburgh, Pa. Jennings Randolph, assistant to the president, Capital Airlines, Washington, D. C. Walter F. Carey, president, Automobile Carriers, Inc., Flint, Mich. John H. Frederick, professor of transportation, University of Maryland, College Park, Md. Gordon Locke, executive secretary and associate counsel, Committee for Pipe Line Cos., Washington, D. C. P. M. Shoemaker, president, Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Co., New York, N. Y. Brig. Gen. Lacy V. Murrow, executive director, Association of American Railroads, Washington, D. C. Senator HUNT. Let me ask you if this doesn't just about transfer to Washington practically complete control over all airport development. It takes drastically away from the States those rights and prerogatives which to my way of thinking belong in the States, and not here in the Department of Commerce. Secretary DEARING. Well, in basic principle it is merely an increase over what is already provided by statute. It is a matter of degree. Senator HUNT. Of 25 percent. Secretary DEARING. Whether or not the program can be operated more effectively with a 50 percent discretionary fund instead of 25 percent. Now, as I have indicated in the testimony, the manner in which the 25 percent discretionary fund has been operated in the past gives no evidence of a desire on the part of the Department to concentrate these funds in any one State, or in any one particular type of airport. It is all a matter of Senator HUNT. Well, the possibilities to do so are not so great under the 25 percent as they would be under the 50 percent. Secretary DEARING. Senator, this is the type of program where any tendency whatever on the part of the executive branch of the Government to abuse the discretion could be so immediately and directly identified that it could be corrected without the slightest difficulty. Senator HUNT. Well, that's a matter of opinion, Mr. Dearing, whether it would be or whether it wouldn't be. My State is opposed to this bill, and I think they are quite right in their position in being opposed to it. I would like to ask either Mr. Dearing or Mr. Lee: What is the status of the present requested appropriation, and what is the amount? Secretary DEARING. I will answer that. We were authorized by the Bureau of the Budget this morning at 9 o'clock to report to the committee that a substantial budget request will be forthcoming shortly. We are not authorized to state the amount because it has not yet been approved by the President. The CHAIRMAN. The release will be some time this week? Senator HUNT. I understand it is in the neighborhood of $33 million, Mr. Chairman. I may be wrong in that figure. Let me ask you, Mr. Dearing: What type of studies did you make before recommending this change? Now, I note here on your schedule, with reference to my State, that in 1949 we were not in a position to utilize the moneys coming to us. We were not in 1950 or 1951, but in 1952 we got down to where only about 30 percent of the moneys due Wyoming were not utilized. We are now in a position, and waiting, and we're terrifically disappointed because nothing was done in the 1954 budget, and we will be in a position to utilize practically every cent that would come to us under the old formula. Now, we have no way of knowing what amount will be available to us under the new formula. Mr. LEE. Well, sir, to cover the nature of the studies that have been conducted, they are summarized in the exhibits which were presented on the initial statement, which gives the history of the use of discretionary funds. We have made additional statistical analyses of the past history and of the situation as it might exist with an appropriation in fiscal 1955. As you will note from the last exhibit which was presented to you with a figure of $30 million, I would like to repeat it is merely a figure which we assumed for statistical purposes, the State apportionments would be larger than they had been in several previous years. Of course, it goes with the amount of the total appropriation, as you pointed out. Senator HUNT. What was the last appropriation, Mr. Lee? Secretary DEARING. That was for project grants? Mr. LEE. For projects; yes. Senator HUNT. Well, if this is in the area of $30 million or $33 million, then under the present formula if funds were apportioned in the same percentage that they have been heretofore, we would, by virtue of the larger appropriation, get approximately the same amount of money that we have had in the past? Of course, we don't know that these larger appropriations will be continued. I think I can see in this a perfectly feasible argument on the part of areas of great density of population to just simply be able to present a better case or, in other words, bring more pressure to have these 50 percent funds spent in their areas, which I think will be very detrimental to the development of air travel out in the West, where we haven't as yet been able to make as much progress as they have here in the east, and in the central States. |