Actually awarded for the grants and do you work with the cyber center at Homeland Security at the nddk to on how these grants are distributed or the technology that theyre developing there . Explain a little bit how that process works. Id have to go back and ask staff. Most of what we see with states using our funds ren hansment in their centers. Id have to go back and ask. I know we have work to expand eligibility on what grants can do but theres also within the cyber world still a lot to be determined, whats the best practices and how of this is an it investment versus Homeland Security grant. Id have to go back and ask. Our role is funding states i met with a big city Emergency Managers a couple of weeks ago. This is at the top of their list. They were talking about what to do during communications in an emergency. We said what would happen if communication went out and they said thats our earthquake plan. We get our units to go out and start patrolling the area. If the center cant dispatch they know theyre supposed to get on the radios and theyll go truck to truck and start relaying communications. So when we get to cyber Emergency Management is less about the intrusion the detection and dealing with that as much as what happens if it effects or disrupts the infrastructure. And then youre back to we respond to communication outages, and its the consequences of that. What cyber does is thats more unique is its more like the same thing as illnesses. Its rarely going to be geographically specific and it may be occurring in multiple states simultaneously. It is a Reference Point for Emergency Managers to realize theyre dealing with the consequences if the disruptions occur while we work with others over the threat the intrusion, the detection and part of what we have to do is make sure our systems are resilient and that we can operate in a cyber attack, and understand that it could be degrading communications and other tools we would assume would be available. What happens if theyre not. We do some pretty extreme planning of what if you the k not use the Public Network to communicate. How do we communicate with the 50 states. We pushed the extreme in the cyber event because were not going to be dealing with the event it. Were going to be dealing with the consequences and trying to maintain responsibilities to deal with it as other people deal with the actual event itself. Thank you. Thank you, mr. Chairman. This will conclude the hearing today. Thank you for being here. We look forward to continuing to work with you. The hearing record will remain open for two weeks from today. Senators may submit written questions for the record. We ask that fema respond in a timely manner and with that this Sub Committee stands . Recess. On the next washington journal we look ahead to this Weeks White House correspondent dinner. Well talk to brothers j political opposites and creators of wood house divided. Then president and ceo of the may owe clinic is here to discuss the new medicare law and the fump of health care in america. Washington journal live every morning. You can join the conversation with your calls and comments on facebook and twitter. Here are some of our featured programs nor weekend on the cspan networks. Remarks by president obama and entertainment by saturday night live. And sunday night on cspans q and a, Judith Miller on her time in prison for not revealing the source of her reports before and during the iraqi invasion. Saturday morning at 10 00 a. M. Eastern. Back tv in live in maryland state capital for the Annapolis Book festival. There is former attorney general, a talk on Climate Change and a talk on world war 2 and the holocaust. And sunday. President ial historians on the lives of 45 iconic women. Karl anthony, ed ka med forth and authors exploring the lives of the first ladies. And on American History tv on p cspan3, Stanford University professor on some of the issues debated during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and sunday afternoon at 4 3040 years after the mall of saigon vietnamese veterans talk about their fall. Get complete details at cspan. Org. Next a Budget Hearing from transportation secretary anthony foxx testifying on his departments 2016 budget. He also talks about faa safety, infrastructure and transportation security. This this. Good morning. The Sub Committee will come to order. While were waiting for secretary foxx to arrive and right on cue he comes through the door. I want to explain that we moved up the time of the hearing by a half hour, and mr. Secretary, i feel your pain on the traffic because it has never taken me longer to get to work than today because of the protests and street closures but today we do welcome secretary foxx to testify about the administrations fiscal year 2016 budget request from the department of transportation. The administration is proposing 94 billion in mandatory and Discretionary Spending for the department of transportation in fiscal year 2016 included in its budget is a proposed sixyear 478 billion surface transportation reauthorization paid for by a onetime 14 tax on repay treeization of earnings as well as existing tax revenues. While i support a repatriation proposal and am completely open to using some of the resulting funds for our infrastructure, the president s budget is based on a reauthorization thats once again funded by a bandaid approach. It really fails to propose any real reforms necessary to bring about the longterm solvency of the highway and mass transit trust funds. It is perplexing to hear the Administration Talk about how important our nations infrastructure is and indeed, there was an event just yesterday to highlight the problems, and yet, at the same time, the administration continues to remain silent on trust fund reforms that must be put in place in order to address our crumbling roads bridges, now and in the future. Simply saying that we are happy to work with congress is not an acceptable answer. This administration has had six years to provide congress with specific proposals to reform the trust fund yet year after year its chosen to ignore what is an essential part of the surface transportation equation. This is a critical year for transportation both for the administration and for congress as we must confront not only the reauthorization of the surface transportation programs expiring in may but also a multiyear faa authorization expiring at the end of the fiscal year. That being said, today our focus can is on the fiscal year 2016 budgetary needs of the department of transportation, based on current authorizations. Im very pleased to see that the administration continues to highlight and fund the important Tiger Program. But im disappointed in the unrealistic proposal to shift funding to mandatory spending a budget gimmick that simply will not happen in our appropriations bill. I have advocated strongly for the Tiger Program since joining the committee in 2009 and ive seen firsthand how this terrific Program SupportsEconomic Growth and job creation nationally regionally, and locally. Its been essential to many bridge railroad and port projects in my home state of maine that otherwise would not have been undertaken when they needed to be. Moving onto faa, our Aviation System supports 11. 8 million jobs here in the United States. With an average of 2 million passengers flying in our country each day and 58,000 tons of freight being transported daily by air the nations Aviation System depends upon a safe efficient, and modern air Traffic Control system. The president s request includes nearly 16 billion to support investments in keeping our Aviation System the safest and most Efficient Air space in the world. While i am pleased that the essential air Service Program is fully funded in the request. I am disappointed with the mention of air Service Development program as well as the reduced funding for the Airports Improvement program. Rural states like maine and other states represented by members on this committee benefit greatly from services that connect Rural America with the larger transportation network. In many instances air service would otherwise have been established if it were not for the support of the small community. I am deeply concerned by the number of train accidents that have occurred over the past three years. This issue has special resonance in my home, because to horrific accident in quebec which killed 47 people and consumed much of a small communitys downtown. It happened only ten miles from the maine border and many of our First Responders rushed to assist their canadian counter parts. The faas budget request highlights Passenger Railroad safety, Pedestrian Safety and the safe transportation of Energy Products in areas that may need additional resources. I will be looking closely at how we can best target federal funds in order to reduce accidents and save lives. This Sub Committee has worked hard to provide the department of transportation with resources to improve rail safety but the results have not fully reflected those investments. For example, despite tin creased resources we have provided for the safe transportation of crude oil, it is baffling to me that the department and this administration have yet to finalize regulations to replace the d. O. T. 111 tank cars to make improvements. They have failed to begin a consideration of rules that would require comprehensive Oil Spill Response plans for oil tank cars. I also remain concerned about the availability of the department to hire the rail and pipeline inspectors previously funded in our bill. The Sub Committee will hold the department accountable for every dollar provided for these important safety issues. Another of my concerns is that some of the figures and the administrations Budget Proposal are simply unrealistic. For example, the budget includes nearly 3. 3 billion for Capital Investment grants. More than 1. 1 billion above current levels. I recognize your interest in promoting Public Transit and other Service Programs and i acknowledge your reauthorization would shift funding to mandatory. However, this Sub Committee must operate in the real world. This program must be funded with discretionary funding and where we continue to face severe fiscal challenges. With that let me turn over the podium to my colleague, senator reed and say once again what a great pleasure it is to have him as our Ranking Member. Senator reed. Thank you very much chairman collins for your excellent statement and for your leadership and welcome, secretary foxx. This is a lesson today on gridlock and we need to do more on the roads in d. C. And everywhere. Youre exhibit one. Thank you very much. We really do appreciate your leadership, and look forward to this budget request with you and it includes, as you indicated by senator collins, a long term reauthorization program but before i get further, let me thank you for coming out to rhode island and visiting and seeing firsthand some of our transportation issues at tf green airport. Our car shipment facility, thank you very, very much. As you recognized that day our airport is a catalyst for Economic Growth, and we are still lagging in the country in terms of em employment. Were tied for tenth for the highest unemployment rate. We used to be vying for one which is, trust me. You dont want to be in that kind of competition but we can do more. Thank you for coming out to rhode island, again. I appreciate it. You had a chance to look at our infrastructure up there, and its similar to many places around the country. We need a functioning airport. We have the port of davisville. Its been very successful. Last year it had another record year. 178,000 automobiles were imported through the port. I must say and concur with senator collins. Tiger grants helped a lot. Thats an example of how the funds can be used very flexibly by local authorities to create jobs which is what we really want to do. We also understand too that the future is going to mean more port calls because of the new panama ka pal and because of the arctic ocean becoming a commercial transit area which its never been in the past. So what were doing today is going to help us in the future dramatically. We have, as you saw in rhode island, significant needs. One out of every four bridges needs repair in the state of rhode island. They cant handle todays traffic. Its just going to get worse. Thats one out of four. 20 of our bridges are in this situation, and itll be 40 by 2025, and if we dont fund them, its just going to get worse. It doesnt stay the same. Itll take 80 million a year just for rhode island to reverse this trend. Amtrak has a 70 billion state of repair for the northeast alone. 7 billion. Thats a big number and that affects massachusetts and all the way down the coast. Then there are other were talking act the things we have to fix. Were not talking about the things we want to build. Thats whats distressing about this hearing and your positions. You have proposed a plan that i think will begin to grapple with these issues and i commend you for that. If we could reauthorize appropriately and reorganize the tax and authorize Committee Responsibilities to come up with revenues to pass a meaningful bill, we could begin this process. I applaud you for laying it on the table for us and asking for those funds. Im afraid that were going to be stuck here and not going to make tough choices about raising the revenues and in order to invest in our future. And theres no more better investment than infrastructure. Every american will tell you that. Everyone on this committee will tell you that. The real key is finding the revenue and thats what we have to do. We also have to recognize that state and local governments have been struggling and will struggle. If we cant give them the certainty of a four of five year plan of committed federal funding at a reasonable and robust level. Theyll be on their own and theyll perform even worse because they dont have the certainty or the resources. I look forward to being supportive of what youre doing. I commend you. You have a 1. 2 billion request for the Tiger Program. It works. Money for amtrak to repairing their facilities. 908 million for the traffic and safety administration. Its necessary because weve seen recently a lot of situations recalled and the companies were not held to the level of accountability that a robust Traffic Safety administration should and must do. Theres 243 million for the federal Railroad Administration which will support 84 additional rail safety inspectors. Again, the chairman raised the issue of passenger and freight rails in the United States. Weve got to do that. 15. 8 billion for the faa which not only funds our air Traffic Controllers, which we take for granted each and every one of us when we get on a plane like friday and maybe tomorrow and also, 956 million for next gen which is important. These programs all rely on resources that comes through this bill and we have to ensure that theyre there. One point i want to conclude about is that we have a collective responsibility i think to somehow avoid sequestration. It will be detrimental not only on the monetary impacts on the budget, but again, the sort of mindless reduction of accounts without any opportunity for a secretary to say well this makes sense and this doesnt make sense, and also, it will further undermine the predict predictability and certainty governments must have to make investments themselves. Were able through the great work of senators to delay it. We need a repetition of that work in the days ahead so that we can go forward. With that, thank you. Thank you very much, senator reed. I want to acknowledge the presence of several of our members. Snar kennedy snar capito. I know how to say it. Capito. I cant believe i said it wrong when i know it. And senator blunt who have joined us today. And im sure other me believes will as well. We did change the time of this hearing and i very much appreciate the secretary accommodating the schedule in light of the votes that we have so please proceed with your statement. Madame chairman, Ranking Member reed and all of the committees members of the subcommittee, i want to thank you for having me here today and i want to say particular thanks to madame chairman, especially for being flexible in scheduling the date of this hearing, really much appreciate that given some of the challenges i have had recently with my knee. Ill jump right in. Last month we sent congress a new and improved grow america act. It is a longterm bill and it would provide 478 billion of funding over 6 years. Having a sixyear bill is very important because it will give communities a stable predictable amount of funding so they can p