President's FY 2007 Budget: Risked-Based Spending at the Transportation Security Administration: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Economic Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Cybersecurity of the Committee on Homeland Security House of Representatives, One Hundred Ninth Congress, Second Session, February 16, 2006   [open pdf - 134KB]

From the opening statement of Daniel E. Lungren: "The annual budget process is an important ritual for both the administration and Congress. It is not, as some would believe, a means to secure higher funding levels for our pet projects. Instead, it represents an opportunity to step back, take a hard look at our priorities and refocus on our primary missions, understanding the successes and failures of the previous year as a key part of the resource management. The budget, as presented, asks for $6.3 billion for TSA, $4.7 billion of which would go toward aviation security. While I support the requested levels, I am concerned, as are others, that we may be spending too much on aviation relative to other homeland security priorities. We must do a better job driving down unnecessary costs and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of passenger and baggage screening. Ultimately, I think we are all in agreement that TSA's airport screening operations are too labor-intensive. We need to move to a system that has more capital-intensive to drive up performance and drive down operating costs. I would like to hear more about the administration plans to fund new inline EDS systems." Statements, letters, and materials submitted for the record include those of the following: Daniel E. Lungren, Peter A. DeFazio, Norman D. Dicks, Sheila Jackson-Lee, Edward J. Markey, Stevan Pearce, and Kip Hawley.