Proposed Fees Under Attack

Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), chairwoman of the Senate Oceans and Fisheries Subcommittee, told USCG Commandant James Loy the Administration's proposal to impose new taxes on commercial vessel operators will not be considered by Congress. Contained in the USCG's FY 00 budget proposal, the navigational assistance user fee is the same as that proposed and rejected by Congress last year. Charirwoman Snowe took issue with the Administration for sending such a proposal to the Congress as part of the FY 00 budget, when just four months earlier, the Congress enacted legislation prohibiting the USCG from planning, implementing or finalizing any regulation that would promulgate a new user fee on the industry. Chairwoman Snowe stated the Administration is clearly violating the spirit of the law by including $41 million in user fees for FY 00 in the USCG budget.