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Amtrak officials aren’t the only ones troubled by the Bush Administration's proposed fiscal-year 2006 budget. Many port administrators are concerned about the proposed elimination of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Port Security Grant Program, which would be integrated into a new funding program to address the security improvement needs of railroads, trucks, ports, buses and other public transit modes, according to the American Association of Port Authorities (AAPA).

Created after Sept. 11, 2001, the current grant program reimburses ports for the cost of pre-approved, federally mandated security improvement projects. The newly proposed Targeted Infrastructure Protection Program would "lump grant proposals from ports together with requests from a host of other transportation-related industries," AAPA officials said in a prepared statement.

"The Administration's recommendation would … take a grant program that helps fund projects that defend our borders and has clearly defined costs, and roll it into a nebulas new program that pits border security needs against domestic security programs," said AAPA President and Chief Executive Officer Kurt Nagle.

During the next 10 years, U.S. ports would need to spend $5.4 billion on federally mandated security improvements, according to U.S. Coast Guard estimates.

"While airports receive most of the federal attention and funding for security and terrorism prevention, seaports … remain largely under-funded at the federal level," Nagle said. "As a result, they often must sacrifice important transportation and economic development initiatives by diverting scarce state and local funds to pay for enhanced security."