Political Quotes

“the fiscal year 2000 DOT Appropriation Act required the Secretary of Transportation to submit along with the 2001 budget request the capital investment plan for the FAA and the Coast Guard. It might surprise many Members to know that although these agencies spend close to $3 billion, ``B'' billion, a year on the capital investments, they do not produce a comprehensive multiyear plan which shows how they plan to achieve their goals over time. They only submit an annual budget which simply does not give us enough information to make good decisions on these substantial investments. Any business this size or, frankly, a lot smaller would hammer out an investment plan as a matter of normal business practice, so we felt it was certainly reasonable for the FAA and the Coast Guard to do the same. So we required the development of these plans in last year's bill. The problem is, the Secretary has ignored the law. None of these plans has ever been submitted. The chairman of the committee, Mr. Chairman, does not ask for reports on a casual basis and it is rare for the committee to put reporting requirements in the bill, but we did in this case because they are important and we intend to ensure that one way or the other the committee's directives are not ignored, not by the FAA or the Coast Guard, and particularly by the Office of the Secretary, and not by the Office of Management and Budget. This should not be controversial.…”