cause it seems to me in relation to the Secretary's testimony, we may well get ourselves a bill out on the floor of the Congress of the United States when it will be absolutely meaningless. If I understood the Secretary correctly, it is already decided and well agreed that the CAB is going to hear everybody's application for an increase, that their replies are due in some time the 19th of February or somewhere around there, that the increases will already be authorized and approved for the airlines to increase it to pay for this, and therefore the argument will be when we get this bill on the floor of the Congress, "We have already increased all the airlines' rates throughout the United States so that the local agencies can go ahead and pay for this, so why have we got a bill that calls for a Federal agency that is going to handle it?"

It seems to me that is probably what they talked about with OMB. They talked about the fact, "Here's the way we are going to get all the money for this, so we can fight this argument and leave it up to the local airport authorities and not have any Federal authority over this, and we will see to it there will be an increase in all fares throughout the United States before any bill can pass the Congress."

I just pass that on as a suggestion, but it seems to me in his statement the Secretary said that. As a matter of fact, in his release on December 5, the Secretary said that he was very anxious to see to it that the airlines asked for an increase and he would be in favor of their increase.

Senator CANNON. Instead of passing that on as a suggestion, why don't you ask him that as a question, if that is what he discussed? Senator Cook. Isn't that what the meeting could well have been about, Mr. Secretary?

Secretary VOLPE. I never had any such discussions, as you have just indicated, Senator Cook, with the OMB. I did in my statement on December 5, and I have since stated that if the airlines felt that they had to pass this on and could not absorb this cost and could justify an increase, that we would support it. Yes, I have made that statement.

Senator Cook. Would you put into this record for this Senator's benefit the amount of balance presently in the account of the airport airways trust fund under the act

Secretary VOLPE. There is no surplus in the fund at the present time. A total of $75 million will be taken out of the general revenues in fiscal 1973 to pay for all of the things that are essential to carry out the statutes presently on the books.

Senator Cook. In other words, that fund is expended?

Secretary VOLPE. There will be-it is not all expended now. What I am saying is that by the end of the fiscal year, based on our estimates at the present time, we will have to take approximately $75 million out of general revenues to pay for all of the requirements of the act.

Senator Cook. Then Mr. Schaeffer's testimony before this committee, showing the surpluses and the accumulated surpluses at the end of 1973, 1974, and 1975, didn't really mean a thing.

Secretary VOLPE. I don't know what

Senator CANNON. The amount was $110 million surplus that was to be in the fund at the end of fiscal 1973.

You are saying that there is to be no surplus in the fund, is that correct?

Secretary VOLPE. If I remember correctly, Mr. Chairman, I am speaking from memory now, I believe we had estimated that there would be a surplus for fiscal 1974. There would be a deficit at the end of 1973 of approximately $75 million.

Senator CANNON. I think you better check the record.
Secretary VOLPE. I certainly will, sir.

Senator CANNON. You may desire to correct that because that certainly is not my recollection.

Secretary VOLPE. I will certainly check it, sir, and provide our response for the record.

(The following information was subsequently received for the record :)

I have reviewed the balances in the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, and I find that at the end of fiscal year 1973 there will be no surplus in the Fund which is not already earmarked by law. I have noted the table printed on page 15 of Senate Report 92-1005 shows a balance of $110 million at the end of fiscal year 1973. As you know, this $110 million balance is the difference between 1971 obligations for airport grants ($170 million) and the 1971 authorizations for such grants ($280 million). However, this balance cannot be considered a surplus since the provisions of the ADAP Act as amended by section 3 of Public Law 92-174 requires that this balance must remain in the Fund until used for airport grants. This balance must be considered encumbered since it cannot be used for any other purpose. Furthermore, in order to produce the required balance of $110 million at the end of fiscal year 1973, a General Fund payment of approximately $73 million to the Trust Fund will be necessary. The reasons for the increase above the $4 million General Fund payment (Federal Payment) shown in the above-mentioned table are twofold. First, the Congress appropriated a total 1973 Federal Payment of $49 million to cover additional airport facilities and equipment specified in the Appropriation Committee's Report. Second, a further $24 million payment will be necessary this year to make up for 1972 receipts which were below expectations. As I indicated, we do anticipate that there will be an unencumbered surplus in the Trust Fund at the end of fiscal year 1974 which, of course, may be used for any program authorized to be funded by the Trust Fund.

Senator CANNON. Well, now, Mr. Secretary, Senator Magnuson and I, as architects of the Senate antihijacking bill last year, were never consulted by you or your staff prior to the adoption of the emergency regulations.

What Members of Congress, in either House, did you consult prior to issuing the regulations?

Secretary VOLPE. I did not consult any of the Members of the Congress. The regulations we issued were practically all in accordance with exactly what your bill contained, except for the financing provisions, on which there was a dispute, and which I am sure we could not resolve on the telephone.

Senator CANNON. Well, that exception is a mighty important exception; it is the basic issue of who is to assume the responsibility, the law-enforcement responsibility, in a hijacking, so don't just brush it off as the financial provision.

That is not really the issue. The issue is whether Joe Doaks down at Timbuctoo is going to have the responsibility in his city for enforcing Federal regulations against hijacking provisions, or is that going to be the responsibility assumed by the Federal Government.

Now, that is the basic issue that we differ on, and that is a pretty substantial one.

Secretary VOLPE. I don't want to make light of this issue at all, Mr. Chairman, because although there have been over 5 million flights in the past year, only 10 of those flights were successfully hijacked, which is a batting average of 999.99999, I think it is.

That doesn't satisfy me. The fact that we had even 10, five, one, would be too many, but I think when you look at all of the law-enforcement activities in this Nation, whether they be on your highways, in banks, or wherever you might look, I don't think any of us could turn to a situation in this Nation wherein there has been as good a record insofar as coping with a situation as I think has been demonstrated during the past 2 years. Whereas there were 28 attempted hijackings in the first 612 months of 1972, there were only four during the last three, as a matter of fact-during the last 6 months of 1972. I think these figures show that we are making progress, but I don't at all make light of the fact that that local police officer should not just be a guy dragged off the beat, who is called and knows nothing about his assignment.

As a matter of fact, the FAA right now, and Jim Murphy can speak to this, is developing a program to train law-enforcement officers for these purposes. In addition, there are, of course, some 1,200 or 1,300 inspectors right now who were engaged and are well trained, who would be available in most cases to be hired by local communities or authorities if they desired to do so.

US. marshals probably will go back to their former assignments. Senator CANNON. Well, Mr. Secretary, employees of the Department have informed the committee that late last year the Department and the FAA proposed a plan to create an air transportation security force similar to that contained in S. 39 and to fund it from the aviation trust fund.

It has been reported that when you took that plan to the OMB and the White House staff for approval, it was rejected, and that Mr. Krogh of the White House staff then drafted the emergency regulations and told you to announce them on December 5.

Is that report an accurate representation of events and, if not, will you say what part of it is accurate and which is not?

Secretary VOLPE. It is not accurate, Mr. Chairman.

The job of determining the sequence of changes that we would institute, as you institute changes in the laws of the Government of the United States, is one in which is a continuing process, and we were in communication with, of course, at times, with Bud Krogh and others, particularly where the changes might involve costs.

We did talk about this whole situation, but at no time-and Jim Murphy is here, and he can speak to the subject himself-do I recall a plan being submitted to me by FAA that the Federal Government undertake to pay for this law-enforcement work and develop the whole system and undertake to supervise it as you have indicated.

Senator CANNON. Well, precisely what was Mr. Krogh's role and the role of the White House staff in developing the emergency regulations?

Secretary VOLPE. Only that the President has personally been very much concerned with this total problem, dating back to 2 years ago

last Labor Day, 2 or 3 days after Labor Day, when that very violent incident took place in the Middle East.

I had a conference with him at that time and from time to time, I have kept him and members of his staff informed as to what we were doing.

As a matter of fact, on a regular basis, every 6 months I have General Davis, with all the information he can put together, prepare for me a report to the President on what has transpired during the previous 6 months.

So it is not unusual for us to talk to members of the White House staff or OMB with regard to how we are coming on a particular program, whether the one that we adopted is working successfully, moderately successfully, or not working well.

The CHAIRMAN. Was Mr. Krogh in charge of aviation matters in the White House?

Secretary VOLPE. No; I wouldn't say Mr. Krogh was in charge of the aviation matters per se.

The CHAIRMAN. But aviation issues were submitted to him, weren't they, in many cases?

Secretary VOLPE. On occasions Mr. Krogh worked on matters which we submitted to the President or to the Director of the Domestic Council.

The CHAIRMAN. He may have referred them down but they were referred to Mr. Krogh's office.

Secretary VOLPE. In some cases.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Krogh will be up here tomorrow so we will ask him about it.

Senator CANNON. Did Mr. Krogh in fact draft those emergency regulations and send them to you?

Secretary VOLPE. He did not, sir.

Senator CANNON. Mr. Secretary, you have stated the administration is not asking local communities to pay for the provision of lawenforcement personnel at airports. Yesterday Mr. Hoyt of the American Association of Airport Executives testified as to the cost of the emergency regulations. He said, and I quote:

The airlines may be successful in getting the CAB to permit a fare increase. The airports do not, however, assess charges directly on the public. They set fees which the airlines pay and, in turn, pass on to their customers. The airport fees are usually contracturally established for stipulated periods. They cannot be increased unilaterally. Furthermore, few airports have the negotiating strength to recover their costs from the airlines. We have detailed figures from airports throughout the country. These figures indicate conclusively that the great majority of airports receiving the air carriers are not now meeting their operating expenses and that this deficit will be greatly aggravated by the costly requirements of both Federal airport certification and federally imposed safety measures.

Given that statement by an acknowledged expert in the field of airports, don't you believe your statement that costs can be recovered by the users is a bit naive and that in a practical sense the airport operators are going to be strapped with a tremendous new cost. burden?

Secretary VOLPE. There could be a few, Mr. Chairman, cases where some of the operators might be hurt. I would say overall we now have over 80 who through our voluntary program instituted the

measures which are now in effect on a mandatory basis. The fact is that we have had out of the 533 airports, 527 have already replied and two have indicated they are replying, I believe, tomorrow because city councils are being changed.

So I would say yes, in some cases, they may find that it might be difficult for them to have to renegotiate a contract which they had made with an airline. But I think in most cases the airlines recognize the situation and I would be quite surprised if the airline industry, airlines that serve these airports would say, heck, I have a contract with you until December of 1973 and that's the way it is going to be.

Senator CANNON. Well, you say that all but four of these airports have replied. I am sure they would have to reply or else they would be assessed a fine of $1,000 a day as you have already indicated. But I am wondering, are you implying that their security plans have been approved?

Secretary VOLPE. No, they have just been received within the last couple of days, as a matter of fact, Mr. Chairman.

Senator CANNON. How long is it going to take you to approve them? Secretary VOLPE. I would say that it would take us about 10 days. to review these and approve them.

Senator Cook. If you do it in 10 days for 531 major airports, your agency has got to be credited with moving on 531 plans within the bureaucratic system faster than any other agency in the history of the U.S. Government and you ought to be given a medal.

Secretary VOLPE. Thank God, Senator Cook, that we saw the situation not only in aviation, but in every mode of transportation years ago, and delegated a great deal of this authority to our regional areas and offices.

Senator Cook. I hope by the time they get through with all the green sheets and pink sheets and yellow sheets and white sheets, that you can get it done in 10 days; that is all I have got to say.

Senator CANNON. I would say, Mr. Secretary, that the testimony yesterday was that DOT approval hasn't been given to some of the plans that were submitted last summer, so that may indicate that your 10-day period is a little bit optimistic. Mr. Secretary, last October in a letter to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, you urged the President to veto legislation developed by this committee, advice the President followed, which would have provided aviation trust fund financing to local communities to upgrade their security programs and to make secure their airport properties from criminals. Now, why did you urge a veto of this bill which would have certainly helped local communities meet the financial burdens imposed by the Department's more stringent airport security regulations?

Secretary VOLPE. Mr. Chairman, in making recommendations to the President on any bill, one doesn't take one item alone. I can't at this moment indicate to you what other provisions in the bill were that I used as the reasons why I felt he ought to veto the bill. There are always good things in a bill, as well as things that you probably do not agree with. And I at this moment can't say to you, Mr. Chairman, what the chief reasons were why I recommended the veto of the bill. Senator CANNON. Well, I have read your letter several times and I may say I can't tell, either, what your chief reasons were. Now, Mr.