Rail Transit and Amtrak to be gutted by GOP

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steamtrain

Starting to Get Obsessed
Dec 12, 2010
140
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Republicans Propose Spending Cuts Targeting Amtrak, Transit Funding

by Tanya Snyder on January 21, 2011
A new Republican proposal would eliminate federal subsidies to Amtrak; kill New Starts, the primary federal transit funding program; and make painful cuts to dozens of other federal programs. It’s a plan by the Republican Study Committee, which is trying to keep alive House Speaker John Boehner’s campaign pledge to reduce the budget by $100 million. Boehner himself has been backing off from the pledge, given the popularity of many of the programs the Study Committee is now proposing to axe.
Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, is sworn in by House Speaker John Boehner Jan. 5, 2011. Jordan is sponsoring the Spending Reduction Act. Photo: AP

According to a Committee press release, “Compared to current projections, the Spending Reduction Act would save taxpayers $2.5 trillion through 2021. It starts by keeping House Republicans’ pledge to take current spending back to 2008 levels and repeal unspent funds from the failed ‘stimulus.’ At the beginning of the next fiscal year on October 1, 2011, spending is further reduced to 2006 levels and frozen there for the next decade.”
The proposal would shift some spending, like Medicaid costs, to the states, which are even more cash-strapped than the federal government. Media attention is focusing on proposed cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, USAID, and veterans’ programs. But the cuts to transportation are deep.
The FTA’s New Starts program is, in its own words, “the federal government’s primary financial resource for supporting locally planned, implemented, and operated major transit capital investments.” SAFETEA-LU authorized $6.6 billion for the program through 2009, and the extension gave another $2 billion for last year. It funds commuter rail, light rail, heavy rail, bus rapid transit, streetcars, and ferries.
According to Bureau of Transportation Statistics contributor William Mallett, “Partly as a result of federal support, rail transit route mileage in the United States almost doubled between 1985 and 2008, and rail transit passenger trips and passenger miles grew by 66 percent and 73 percent, respectively.”
The Republican Study Committee would axe the entire program. Along with it, the entire $1.57 billion Amtrak subsidy would disappear. The high speed rail program, which the GOP has been publicly itching to gut, is also, predictably, on the chopping block. Lesser-known programs like the Appalachian Regional Commission, which includes transportation as one of its programs, would also lose $76 million in annual federal subsidies. The $150 million annual federal contribution toward Washington DCs transit authority, WMATA, would also be cut, despite the longstanding federal commitment to supporting the infrastructure, like the metro system, that keep the capital running.
The EnergyStar program, grants to states for weatherization, U.S. support for the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: all gone.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) is promising an up-or-down vote on the spending cuts. Though Democrats are generally trying to go along with much of the Republicans’ rhetoric of fiscal restraint, it’s unlikely the Senate will go along with the wholesale elimination of so many popular programs

 

tanless1

Part of the Furniture Now
Sep 14, 2010
643
1
Maybe if we stop subsidising they will figure out how to make it profitable. That would be a great benifit to this country.
Man-caused global warming is a hoax.(don't want this to be a political site)


 

wolfscout

Can't Leave
Dec 13, 2010
417
2
Newberry, SC
I agree.. politics un-associated with Pipe tobacco industry is not so much here. Besides, I have to go figure what I want in my next bowl. And Boehner the whiner certainly has no influence there.

 

hfdpipe

Might Stick Around
Oct 28, 2010
55
0
CT
Amtrak is a cashcow in the northeast but is forced by congress to run unprofitable routes across the U.S. which is the reason why they need to be standardize. At this point with raising fuels costs flying is only going to get more expensive, it might be smart to invest in a smarter, modern rail system now,rather than gut it.

 

flylot

Might Stick Around
Dec 17, 2010
65
0
Wait, investing in a smarter, modern rail system and gutting Amtrak is mutually exclusive. Amtrak has never made money. It is neither smart or modern. Force it to be profitable and allow it to grow where the free market takes it.
If they cut the funding, they should also allow it to survive on its own. Congress also must cut all the government mandates on its operation that constrain it as well.
As one in the aviation industry, I would welcome a viable rail system, however it evolves. The competition will make both industries smarter and stronger.

 

hobie1dog

Lifer
Jun 5, 2010
6,888
233
67
Cornelius, NC
I'm already working on my Mexican language, so that I can talk to my landscapers, painters, cleaning lady, and McDonalds workers. :nana:

 

strongirish

Can't Leave
Aug 20, 2010
343
1
Lake Conroe, TX
I agree with the poster if we don't start cutting subsidies and wateful spending we will have to learn to speak Chinese. What everyone needs to understand is WE ARE BROKE! There is not money to spend. If you are broke you don't buy a new car, if we aree broke we don't buy trains. It's that simple. The spending has to stop. We are going downhill fast with all the redistribution on wealth programs. Lets go back to capitalism where if you want to exist, you make money. If you don't, you fail and a stonger player fills the void.

 

admin

Smoking a Pipe Right Now
Staff member
Nov 16, 2008
8,764
4,932
St. Petersburg, FL
pipesmagazine.com
The only opinion I'll express is that I think these forums will do just fine sans any political posts ... so it looks like I will need to update the rules and close this thread. :puffy:

 
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