Airline security fee hike sought By Alan Levin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON =97 House leaders want to double the security fee airline=20 passengers pay per flight leg, from $2.50 to $5, to help cover the=20 burgeoning costs of making aviation safer. Congressional sources say the=20 measure, which would raise the maximum fee per round trip from $10 to $20,= =20 could be announced as soon as Tuesday. It comes just weeks after news that= =20 the Transportation Security Administration's payroll would double, in part= =20 to accommodate the requirements for screening all bags for explosives by=20 Dec. 31. The House is preparing to add $4 billion to security efforts for=20 the remainder of this fiscal year. Airlines, which fear the higher fee will= =20 reduce air travel, immediately attacked the proposal. "All of this is=20 apparently being considered just as the summer leisure travel season is=20 beginning and as airlines continue their efforts to stop the financial=20 hemorrhaging from the events of Sept. 11," said Michael Wascom, a spokesman= =20 for the Air Transport Association. Last year, Congress enacted numerous=20 aviation security requirements and set rigorous deadlines. The TSA was put= =20 in charge of airport screening and ordered to begin testing about 2 billion= =20 checked bags annually for explosives, all before the end of the year. The TSA is hiring more than 30,000 airport security checkpoint screeners=20 and thousands of security workers to examine bags for explosives. The=20 agency also must buy thousands of explosives-detection machines to cover=20 all 429 commercial airports, assist airports with security-related=20 construction costs and fund an expanded Federal Air Marshal program. The=20 Congress also enacted a fee of $2.50 per ticket, capped at no more than $10= =20 per round trip, to help pay for the measures. But the fee is not nearly=20 enough to fund the effort. The TSA projected it would raise about $2.2=20 billion in revenue from the ticket fee next year. Doubling the fee would=20 bring the total revenue far closer to expected security costs. The TSA=20 requested $4.8 billion for next year. The cost of providing security in the wake of Sept. 11 has raised tensions= =20 in recent weeks. House members sparred with transportation officials at a=20 hearing April 17 over the TSA's budget. "We need answers to our questions,= =20 and if you don't provide them you don't get any money," said Hal Rogers,=20 R-Ky., chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that oversees=20 transportation. On the committee's Web site, it said it had approved $4=20 billion in additional spending this year, "despite the fact the (TSA) did=20 not fully or timely justify the budget request." According to aviation=20 industry sources, congressional leaders also want to reduce some of the aid= =20 given to airlines after their revenue plummeted in the wake of the=20 terrorist attacks. The proposal would seek to reduce some of the $5 billion= =20 in compensation being offered to airlines. Contributing: Blake Morrison, Kathy Kiely and Barbara DeLollis. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBSC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeansocabrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (Coco Reef) http://www.cocoreef.com/ (Coco Reef Resort & Spa) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************