The General Accounting Office has released a report showing that beginning in fiscal 1996, the Transportation Department dramatically shifted the criteria by which it allocated discretionary transportation funds, awarding projects based less on professional staff recommendations and merit.
The GAO report did not uncover why the criteria changed, but House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster, R-Pa., was quick to link it to the Clinton administration's political agenda.
"This strongly suggests that the whole process has been politicized by the Clinton administration," Shuster said in a statement. "This raises serious questions about the extent to which we should continue discretionary programs [in reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act]. And, if we do continue discretionary programs, one of my highest priorities will be to tighten the grant selection process and require the department to publicly justify the selections."
While most highway funding is sent directly to states according to an allocation formula, about 10 percent is reserved for the Transportation secretary to allocate on a discretionary basis. States and members of Congress submit requests for those funds. The requests are then analyzed by professional staff who determine the merits of each project and prioritize them according to need. But the final decision to fund the projects is left up to the Federal Highway Administration chief and the Transportation Secretary.
During FY92-FY94, the FHWA administrator eventually selected 98 percent of projects recommended by the staff as high priorities. That percentage declined to 92 percent in FY95, 69 percent in FY96, and 59 percent in FY97. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater served as FHWA administrator from 1993-1996.
In a statement today, new Federal Highway Administrator Ken Wykle said the department "acted appropriately" and within the authority granted by Congress to allocate projects by "taking into consideration the country as a whole."
While the doling out of special highway projects requested by members of Congress is a cutthroat political practice on Capitol Hill, a Shuster spokesman maintained there is a difference between the administration handing out projects on a political basis versus the congressional leadership doing the same.
"The difference is that our projects have to go through a lot of procedural hoops and a thorough vetting process," he said. "And they are requested by members who are in touch with their constituents."
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