James Oberstar: “this amendment would take $1 million from the $40 million appropriation the bill provides for the Office of Inspector…”

“this amendment would take $1 million from the $40 million appropriation the bill provides for the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Transportation and transfer that $1 million to the Operations account of the Federal Aviation Administration to increase the funding for FAA training of its inspector work force. This amendment responds to concerns expressed by the Inspector General herself, it responds to concerns and alarms expressed nationwide in the aftermath of ValuJet and to concerns that I expressed over 2 years ago about the adequacy of FAA's inspector work force in inspecting new entrant carriers. The President's budget for the Inspector General's office included $1.9 million for that office to contract out with other government agencies to conduct audits of DOT programs. The Appropriations Committee bill cut the President's request for the Inspector General by $321,000 and, concurrently, prohibited the Inspector General from contracting for audits. The result is that the Committee on Appropriations has relieved the IG of expenses totaling $1.9 million for audit contracts but they reduced the IG's funding by only $321,000.”