On December 31, 1996, the aviation excise taxes expired. The aviation excise taxes include a 10-percent passenger ticket tax, a 6.25-percent freight waybill tax, a $6 per person international departure tax, and fuel taxes imposed upon general aviation aircraft. These taxes were the principal source of revenues for the airport and airway trust fund, which funds most of the budget of the Federal Aviation Administration [FAA] and all of the FAA capital programs.

Recent estimates by the General Accounting Office [GAO] and the FAA indicate that, unless the excise taxes are reinstated, the trust fund will be out of available moneys by March or April of this year. The FAA will have to terminate spending on its capital programs--the safety and security enhancements that we have worked so hard to institute.

It is unconscionable to allow the FAA to go without money that is absolutely essential to fund the safety and security programs of the national air transportation system.

The current estimates of when the trust fund will be out of available money--which I just learned today--are much more dire than originally anticipated. There are several reasons for the unexpected worsening of the FAA's fiscal situation.

The Treasury Department may have mistakenly credited the trust fund with $1.5 billion. Under normal circumstances, there is a gap in the time between the collection of taxes on airline tickets and the payment of those taxes into the Treasury by the airlines. In addition, those taxes are first paid into the general fund before being credited to the trust fund. When the aviation excise tax expired, so did the authority to transfer the revenues from the general fund to the trust fund.

The result of this process is that billions in tax revenues from 1996 are not paid to Treasury until 1997. Because those revenues cannot be transferred out of the general fund, the trust fund may have far less money than originally estimated. The trust fund could be out of available money by March, with curtailment of spending beginning even before that time because of the stringent provisions of the Anti-Deficiency Act.

On one particular point, I want to be very clear--the taxes should not be extended for more than a few months. We have a process in place to explore alternative long-term funding mechanisms to ensure the fiscal viability of the FAA and its important safety and security missions. Until the results of those studies are available and alternative mechanisms are in place, we must ensure that adequate funding is provided for these programs.

These taxes were allowed to expire at the end of last December so that reinstatement of the taxes would count for new revenues which can be used to offset tax cuts or spending in other parts of the Federal budget. Playing budget games with these excise taxes is simply deplorable. The excise taxes paid by the users of the national air transportation system must be dedicated to that system.

Mr. President, if the situation was dangerous before, it has now reached a very critical point. We must not delay any longer. Therefore, I am introducing this bill to take immediate action to begin the process of reinstating the aviation excise taxes until September 29, 1997. I will work closely with Senators Lott and Daschle to ensure early Senate action on this vitally important measure, so that the safety of our airline transportation system is not adversely affected.