House Rejects Calls to Break-Up,
Bankrupt Amtrak
July 5, 2005
The U.S. House of Representatives has strongly rejected a move by President Bush and some Congressional leaders to bankrupt Amtrak as a means of pushing his plan to privatize America's largest passenger carrier.
On June 29, the House voted to restore $657 million in cuts to Amtrak's budget that were approved by the House Appropriation subcommittee on June 15. Those cuts would have forced Amtrak to abandon 18 rail routes, including all cross-country service and passenger travel between Chicago and New Orleans.
The cuts would have eliminated good-paying union railroad jobs as well as weakening Railroad Retirement, America's oldest pension system.
The Transportation Trades Department (TTD), AFL-CIO, released a statement saying: "America's transportation workers owe a debt of gratitude to Representatives Steven LaTourette, R-Oh., James Oberstar, D-Minn. and Corrine Brown, D-Fla. for their leadership on Amtrak. They and their colleagues recognized a fundamental truth--all forms of transportation, including Amtrak, require federal investment. It is patently unfair to hold our national rail system to a different standard than we have for aviation, maritime, highways and transit."
House opponents of greater Amtrak funding have argued that the states should take on a greater financial burden for the carrier. A bi-partisan group of their colleagues rejected this approach, acknowledging that with more states in financial crisis, it was unworkable. Many also questioned the seriousness of the administration's pledge to lessen America's dependence upon gasoline while simultaneously undermining mass rail transportation.
TTD, while applauding the House's action, wants stronger action to secure Amtrak. The statement continues, "Forcing Amtrak to careen from one financial crisis to another is no way to run a railroad. Even with this amount, Amtrak would still lack the funding to fully return the railroad to a state of good repair. We hope these votes mark the beginning of the end of misguided calls to shut down Amtrak, and instead set our government down a path towards a first-class national rail system. As this bill moves through Congress, we will redouble our efforts to ensure that the Senate builds upon this funding level."
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February
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