The sad point is: that the Mica's and the other congress-thingies were elected, ie, they didn't appoint themselves... to supposedly represent the will of their constituents. . But as I've posted before, Amtrak needs more customers/patroness that have had a positive experience and are willing to let their "representatives" know that this anti-Amtrak attitude is unacceptable... and hence why my suggestion of, and maybe combined with National Train Day, some type of once, twice a year promo where wantabe Amtrakers can ride anywhere for $50 (or some number like that, and constrained to 24hrs etc, ie, can't give away the store just to get new customers). It seems that the Amtrak population is aging and ever becoming smaller... and if there isn't new blood to reverse it, the Mica-thingies of the world will win and America will be without a LD passenger rail system.
If the Amtrak population is aging/becoming smaller, then how is ridership still rising? Yes, growth has been slower this year, but we've also had more "issues" on the NEC than usual (Sandy, etc.) while capacity is becoming an issue in many places. It's not an issue of a shrinking base, but a relatively small starting point for that base.
When you look at the generally pro/anti-Amtrak voting records, I know there's a strong (albeit imperfect) correlation with Amtrak service (and likely a stronger one with corridor services). So you don't get many anti-Amtrak votes along the NEC because of the commuter services that would be impacted.
Thinking about it, probably the biggest danger from PRIIA isn't that corridors get cut (though that
is a risk, with very few exceptions there is either the political climate or the ridership to sustain the corridors) but that by eliminating the funding from Amtrak-at-large, for a quick example you get a lot of CA reps who don't have to worry too much about the San Joaquins or Surfliners being affected by an Amtrak cut.