Get on the phone guys...call your senator to vote against deleting HSR

[wayman]

Thursday afternoon update: an NY Times article says

The effort to trim back the program was being led by two centrist senators, Ben Nelson, Democrat of Nebraska, and Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, who say they would like to pare from $50 billion to $200 billion from the package. The final Senate vote on the stimulus package was expected late on Thursday.
Among the initiatives that could be cut are ... $850 million for Amtrak .... But so far, none of the suggestions come close to being enough to shrink the package on the scale proposed.

Meanwhile, Senator Christopher Bonds' Amendment 162, which proposes striking out the high-speed rail money, has yet to come up for floor action (discussion or vote) according to THOMAS. (Hmm, though that may only update at the end of the day; it doesn't show anything that's happened on Thursday.) And THOMAS doesn't show any actual proposed amendments sponsored by either Nelson or Collins, so I guess they're either just talking without having formally introduced anything or they've formally introduced a heckuvalotta stuff just today? I'm not sure how the Senate is going to vote on HR1 "late on Thursday", at this rate!

I don't have any idea how serious the threat is the $850 million for Amtrak. The other examples given by the NY Times of potential cuts range from just $14 million to only $1 billion, which makes Amtrak appear to be one of the largest line items. Whether that's good or bad I don't know. And in any event, the Times makes it clear that everything so far suggested added together doesn't even come close to the $50 billion goal, much less the $200 billion end of things.

Anyway, if you're from Nebraska or Maine it might be particularly worth a call to Sen Nelson or Sen Collins to voice your opinion on the $850 million, since they're principal agitators against it.

 

[Ryan]

Thanks for the update!

(one super pedantic note: The Senate will be voting on S1, not HR 1. )

 

[wayman]

Thanks for the update!
(one super pedantic note: The Senate will be voting on S1, not HR 1. )

When they vote on whatever they wind up with after all their amendments, yes indeed, they'll be voting be S1. But the bill as presented to them by the House was HR1, and it appears to retain that designation even while being discussed in the Senate, according to how it's referenced on THOMAS. Weird, eh?

THOMAS doesn't have any 2/5 updates yet, as of almost midnight... and the NY Times doesn't have a big headline about this. Guess that "final Senate vote on the stimulus package was expected late on Thursday" line was off after all

 

[Guest]

Kind of related to this, if nothing else as a good example....

The Congressional Democrats used $70,000 of taxpayer (that us!) money to pay Amtrak for a train trip they all took to Kingsmill.

Again, while I am sure you all are jumping up and down in joy that Congress used Amtrak, I am pretty pissed that they used $70,000 of my hard earned tax money to pay for that one trip.

BTW, this isn't just the Democrats. The Republicans do the same thing (though haven't used Amtrak, yet).

 

[jackal]

Some links to reference Guest's story:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/articl...GIhJ9wD965R0200

http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/500k-s...2009-02-03.html

http://www.radioreference.com/forums/virgi...nce-2009-a.html

 

[sky12065]

Kind of related to this, if nothing else as a good example....
The Congressional Democrats used $70,000 of taxpayer (that us!) money to pay Amtrak for a train trip they all took to Kingsmill.

Again, while I am sure you all are jumping up and down in joy that Congress used Amtrak, I am pretty pissed that they used $70,000 of my hard earned tax money to pay for that one trip.

BTW, this isn't just the Democrats. The Republicans do the same thing (though haven't used Amtrak, yet).

What you forgot to mention is that the Republicans do not use our tax dollars for their retreat. The Non-Profit Congressional Institute (in part by lobbiests dues) pays for the Republicans retreat rather than our taxpayer dollars. I would guess that either way it's paid for can draw legitimate criticisms, but I would have to say that I have a greater appreciation when a government vacum hose is not sucking dollars directly out of my pocket!

 

[AlanB]

Kind of related to this, if nothing else as a good example....
The Congressional Democrats used $70,000 of taxpayer (that us!) money to pay Amtrak for a train trip they all took to Kingsmill.

Again, while I am sure you all are jumping up and down in joy that Congress used Amtrak, I am pretty pissed that they used $70,000 of my hard earned tax money to pay for that one trip.

BTW, this isn't just the Democrats. The Republicans do the same thing (though haven't used Amtrak, yet).

What you forgot to mention is that the Republicans do not use our tax dollars for their retreat. The Non-Profit Congressional Institute (in part by lobbiests dues) pays for the Republicans retreat rather than our taxpayer dollars. I would guess that either way it's paid for can draw legitimate criticisms, but I would have to say that I have a greater appreciation when a government vacum hose is not sucking dollars directly out of my pocket!

From The Hill:

Individual lawmakers pay for most of the expenses related to retreat lodging through their campaign committees, but the Democratic Caucus subsidizes some of the costs for what aides consider “official business” — to the tune of nearly $100,000 each year, according to a Democratic aide involved in retreat planning.
For instance, the caucus picks up the hefty transportation tab, as well as the thousands of dollars in expenses each year for guest speakers, food and entertainment, according to financial disbursement records.

The bolding is mine. It should also be noted that part of the taxpayer expense that does occur, is the security for Nancy Pelosi, who as speaker of the house is second in line for the Presidency should something happen to both the President and the VP, god forbid. But that security would be present regardless of where she goes.

And another interesting tidbit:

Republicans also allow members of the institute’s private sector advisory board, many of whom are lobbyists, to travel to the resort each year for a dinner with the members.
Democrats don’t allow lobbyists at the retreat

 

[sky12065]

Kind of related to this, if nothing else as a good example....
The Congressional Democrats used $70,000 of taxpayer (that us!) money to pay Amtrak for a train trip they all took to Kingsmill.

Again, while I am sure you all are jumping up and down in joy that Congress used Amtrak, I am pretty pissed that they used $70,000 of my hard earned tax money to pay for that one trip.

BTW, this isn't just the Democrats. The Republicans do the same thing (though haven't used Amtrak, yet).

What you forgot to mention is that the Republicans do not use our tax dollars for their retreat. The Non-Profit Congressional Institute (in part by lobbiests dues) pays for the Republicans retreat rather than our taxpayer dollars. I would guess that either way it's paid for can draw legitimate criticisms, but I would have to say that I have a greater appreciation when a government vacum hose is not sucking dollars directly out of my pocket!

From The Hill:

Individual lawmakers pay for most of the expenses related to retreat lodging through their campaign committees, but the Democratic Caucus subsidizes some of the costs for what aides consider “official business” — to the tune of nearly $100,000 each year, according to a Democratic aide involved in retreat planning.
For instance, the caucus picks up the hefty transportation tab, as well as the thousands of dollars in expenses each year for guest speakers, food and entertainment, according to financial disbursement records.

The bolding is mine. It should also be noted that part of the taxpayer expense that does occur, is the security for Nancy Pelosi, who as speaker of the house is second in line for the Presidency should something happen to both the President and the VP, god forbid. But that security would be present regardless of where she goes.

And another interesting tidbit:

Republicans also allow members of the institute’s private sector advisory board, many of whom are lobbyists, to travel to the resort each year for a dinner with the members.
Democrats don’t allow lobbyists at the retreat

What I stated also came from The Hill and I recall having heard the same on TV. The Hill article also stated:

Common Cause’s Sarah Dufendach said she would rather have taxpayer money than special-interest money funding retreats. But she said this year, both Republicans and Democrats would have been better served by having their retreat locally at a place such as the Library of Congress.
“It would have been really good PR for both sides to stay home and bring a box lunch,” she said.

The only thing I don't agree with on Dufendach's statement is where she states that she would rather have taxpayer money than special interest money funding retreats, and I don't agree with her because special-interest is going to get their voice heard one way or another anyway. Let them pay in this case, not us! Plus wither or not we like it, special interests have the same rights to have their voice heard as we do as individual citizens. The problem is how do we prevent them from outright or subversively buying influence while at the same time not violating their rights to be heard? Much better minds then I don't have a clue how and quite obviously, neither do I.

 

[wayman]

I'm listening to CSPAN-2 now; the Senate reconvened at 7pm after the closed-door bipartisan negotiations led by Susan Collins (R-ME) and Ben Nelson (D-NE), which included 18 Senators total--one of them known to be pro-rail, Tom Carper (D-DE). I caught the end of Nelson's speech, and Collins has been speaking since about 7:30pm. She mentioned how it was important that the proposed amendment (which has a net effect of cutting $80 billion, but which cut more than that while also adding other projects) cut out transit projects but added in money for highway projects not in the House version of the bill. But after her, Arlen Specter (R-PA), another of the Gang of 18, mentioned how important all infrastructure funding is, enumerating roads, rails, and public transit.

I haven't been able to find the text of the Collins/Nelson Amendment which only reached its fixed form a few hours ago, though, so I can't say exactly what it says about the Amtrak money--whether the Amendment proposes cutting it or not. It's unclear, and I've seen hints in both directions, but my suspicion is that the Amendment strikes Amtrak funding.

You might want to tune in to CSPAN-2, either on TV or on their website, to follow the speakers and ultimately the vote (which will probably happen within the next few hours).

Note that even if the Collins/Nelson Amendment proposes striking Amtrak funding, and the Amendment is accepted and the stimulus bill (minus Amtrak funding) passed, that does not by itself deny Amtrak the money, since the next step will be for a conference committee of Representatives and Senators to hash out the differences between the two versions of the stimulus bill. It's possible that in the conference committee, the House delegation could convince the Senate delegation to put Amtrak funding into the final version of the bill.

 

[birdy]

Read a report this afternoon that Sen. Olympia Snow of Maine presented a list of GOP demands to stimulus bill that basically required defunding Amtrak. Later, this evening, I saw that Arlen Specter, Snow, and that other lady from Maine were supporting the stimulus with some cuts.

Its hard for me that any pol from Pennsylvania would ever support a rail cut, so how did it all shake out?

I'm not convinced its true that Sen. Snow demanded Amtrak defunding in her list to the prez, but if it is, that moves her to the head of the list of hypocritical politicians. Google up "Olympia Snow and "Amtrak" to read her unctious press release about the "Downeaster" and how important Amtrak is.

 

[PetalumaLoco]

Read a report this afternoon that Sen. Olympia Snow of Maine presented a list of GOP demands to stimulus bill that basically required defunding Amtrak. Later, this evening, I saw that Arlen Specter, Snow, and that other lady from Maine were supporting the stimulus with some cuts.
Its hard for me that any pol from Pennsylvania would ever support a rail cut, so how did it all shake out?

I'm not convinced its true that Sen. Snow demanded Amtrak defunding in her list to the prez, but if it is, that moves her to the head of the list of hypocritical politicians. Google up "Olympia Snow and "Amtrak" to read her unctious press release about the "Downeaster" and how important Amtrak is.

I saw a list of cuts tonite, no mention of Amtrak. But I don't think what I saw was empirical.

 

[GG-1]

Aloha

Thought you would like to see the response I received from Hawaii Senator Neil Abercromb

Dear Mr. Minton:


Thank you for contacting me regarding legislation to reauthorize Amtrak. I appreciate hearing from you on this matter.

As you may know, there were two bills in the 110th Congress regarding regarding reauthorization. In the Senate, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg and then Senator Trent Lott introduced an Amtrak reauthorization bill, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 (S. 294), on January 16, 2007. This bill would have authorized a total of $3.3 billion in operating grants and $6.3 billion in capital grants for fiscal years 2007 through 2012. The bill would also have allowed states to use operators other than Amtrak to provide rail service on particular routes, thus potentially opening up competition for Amtrak. While the bill repealed the requirement that Amtrak become financially self-sufficient, it required Amtrak to reduce operating subsidies by 40%.

This bill was approved with amendments by the Committee on Commerce,

Science, and Transportation on April 25, 2007, and was passed (with amendments)

by the full Senate on October 20, 2007.

On the House side, H.R. 6003 was introduced by Rep. James Oberstar on May 8, 2008, and it was passed by the House with amendments on June 11, 2008, by a vote of 311 to 104. For FY2009-FY2013, H.R. 6003 would provide a total of $6.7 billion in capital grants to Amtrak, of which $2.5 billion would be provided to states in a capital matching program; $3.0 billion in operating grants; $1.7 billion for debt service; and $1.1 billion for ADA compliance. The House bill would restructure Amtrak's board of directors in the same way as the Senate bill.

This issue may continue into the 111th Congress. Therefore, should any legislation on this matter come before the House for a vote, please be assured I will keep your views in mind

Again, mahalo for sharing your views on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Neil Abercrombie

Member of Congress

 

[n9949y]

02/06/09: Joe Johns a CNN AC360 correspondent reports that within the Senate's roughly $800B stimulus pkge compromise reached this evening the $850M funding for AMTRAK is included......

 

[wayman]

02/06/09: Joe Johns a CNN AC360 correspondent reports that within the Senate's roughly $800B stimulus pkge compromise reached this evening the $850M funding for AMTRAK is included......

That's great! I'll keep my eye out for a second confirmation, though, since it seems like the news accounts change every hour or so :unsure: The latest I've heard is that the vote will be Monday. Possibly some Monday in April.

 

[birdy]

Aloha
Thought you would like to see the response I received from Hawaii Senator Neil Abercromb

Dear Mr. Minton:


Thank you for contacting me regarding legislation to reauthorize Amtrak. I appreciate hearing from you on this matter.

As you may know, there were two bills in the 110th Congress regarding regarding reauthorization. In the Senate, Senator Frank R. Lautenberg and then Senator Trent Lott introduced an Amtrak reauthorization bill, the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2007 (S. 294), on January 16, 2007. This bill would have authorized a total of $3.3 billion in operating grants and $6.3 billion in capital grants for fiscal years 2007 through 2012. The bill would also have allowed states to use operators other than Amtrak to provide rail service on particular routes, thus potentially opening up competition for Amtrak. While the bill repealed the requirement that Amtrak become financially self-sufficient, it required Amtrak to reduce operating subsidies by 40%.

This bill was approved with amendments by the Committee on Commerce,

Science, and Transportation on April 25, 2007, and was passed (with amendments)

by the full Senate on October 20, 2007.

On the House side, H.R. 6003 was introduced by Rep. James Oberstar on May 8, 2008, and it was passed by the House with amendments on June 11, 2008, by a vote of 311 to 104. For FY2009-FY2013, H.R. 6003 would provide a total of $6.7 billion in capital grants to Amtrak, of which $2.5 billion would be provided to states in a capital matching program; $3.0 billion in operating grants; $1.7 billion for debt service; and $1.1 billion for ADA compliance. The House bill would restructure Amtrak's board of directors in the same way as the Senate bill.

This issue may continue into the 111th Congress. Therefore, should any legislation on this matter come before the House for a vote, please be assured I will keep your views in mind

Again, mahalo for sharing your views on this matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

Neil Abercrombie

Member of Congress

Hey! A Congressman who writes back to his constituent as if the constituent were an adult! A custom letter with actual facts! A guy who is willing to pay attention to the national interest where there is almost no parochial benefit to be had! Your Neil Abercrombie sounds like a good one.

Trent Lott is supporting this thing? With that kind of broad-based support, It just seems to me that this is low-hanging fruit from the standpoint of a politician. Lots of regional support, a clear national need, funding available. All that should be required is 6 or 8 heartland type senators to band together with the urbanite guys who already support this, run to the head of the parade and turn it into the "Interstate Highway system for the 21st century."

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

Trent Lott is supporting this thing? With that kind of broad-based support, It just seems to me that this is low-hanging fruit from the standpoint of a politician. Lots of regional support, a clear national need, funding available. All that should be required is 6 or 8 heartland type senators to band together with the urbanite guys who already support this, run to the head of the parade and turn it into the "Interstate Highway system for the 21st century."

While I certainly want to see something along the lines of the Interstate High[speed Rail] system for the 21st century, I tend to think the appropriate time for Congress consider such a thing is sometime after this stimulus bill.

 

[Joel N. Weber II]

The bill would also have allowed states to use operators other than Amtrak to provide rail service on particular routes, thus potentially opening up competition for Amtrak.

Does this mean that the MBTA Commuter Rail system and Metrolink were in violation of federal law prior to the passage of this bill for not hiring Amtrak to run their trains?

 

[Chafford1]

It appears Amtrak funding has survived:

Amtrak Funding

 

[sky12065]

It appears Amtrak funding has survived:
Amtrak Funding

That's great, but I think it would be at least equally interesting to see a list of what's still on the list, not to mention what might still be added before this is bill is finalized!