What about the budget? What about repairs?

[Bill Haithcoat]

So, where do we stand? My impression is that we are really only safe FOR SURE until September...that we are right on the brink again. Is that true? What about repairs...is that going well?

 

[Amfleet]

Amtrak will still get the $500 million but come December we'll be in the same position as of last June. Amtrak is working with Congress to get the $1.2 billion passed. As equipment goes there have been reports that some Superliners are being repaired and put back on the road. In the east another AEM-7 has just come out of an over haul and I think the Amfleet refurbishment program has started up again (1 car per month?). These are just things I've read, but I don't know the whole truth behind the scenes. Mabey Miami Joe could give us the heads up. B)

 

[tp49]

FY 2003 begins two weeks from today guess we will have to wait and see if the funding level goes up or not.

 

[GWR]

So why don't the railways get same amount as the highways get and that should help improve the railways, their should have a separate budget to help with the infrastructure upgrade which is need.

Also at work we were talking about why a super high speed line has not been built yet which could take trains up to a speed of 500 m.p.h from LA to Washington.

Guy

 

[tp49]

To answer part of your question the money for surface transportation comes in one omnibus (i.e. really big, huge, mass of paper) bill. In 1996 the last time it was renewed the bill was over 700 pages. It is up for renewal in the next session of Congress to convene in January. While Congress allocates the funds, ultimately it is up to the states (at least in the case of highways) to spend the money as it sees fit.

Budgetwise, Amtrak has what are known as Capital (i.e. infrastructure, expansion, new rolling stock, etc.) and general operating expenses. When Amtrak receives its money they allocate it to the appropriate budget area (Capital or general fund) as they deem fit or as the money allows. Capital expenses come from the Capital budget while general operating expenses come from the general fund. Sometimes money is switched between the two on an as needed bases. In a perfect world, there is also a Contingency (or rainy day fund). I would not be surprised if Amtrak does not have much if anything in contingency.

I hope this helps somewhat

 

[AlanB]

Bill,

Well at the moment from what I've been hearing, things are moving rather slowly in Congress. There is currently some doubt as to whether they will actually pass the new budget before the end of this month. This includes not only Amtrak's money, but also all federal monies.

Should Congress fail to pass a budget, then what will happen is they will pass a "continuing resolution" (CR). Basically what that means is that they take whatever Amtrak got last year and pro-rate it for however many more months or weeks they expect it will take them to come up with a budget. So as an example, if Congress figures that they need another month to finalize the budget, Amtrak would receive 1/12th of last year's 550 Million or around 45.8M.

If they don't get around to finalizing the budget by the end of October, then things get more interesting. Congress can always try to pass another CR. There has been several times where Congress has passed two or more CR. However sometimes if the President feels that Congress is dragging its feet he will refuse to sign the resolution. In addition a member of Congress can also hold up the resolution. Should either of the last two scenarios happen, things could get real dicey for Amtrak.

No matter what happens, if there is no agreement on a budget by the end of this month along with the Presidents signature, Amtrak will not receive 550M. The only way that Amtrak can get that amount of money or more is for Congress and the President to agree on a budget, or for Congress to make a special appropriation like they did last July. The later is something that would also be vigorously opposed by the President and some members of Congress.

Now as to where things stand, as you may already know, the Senate Appropriations Committee has already passed the 1.2 Billon number for Amtrak. The House has yet to pass anything and there is some speculation that they might go with the President’s number of 550M or a higher number than that, but not the 1.2B that Amtrak has said they need. If they do indeed go with a lower number than the 1.2B that the Senate approved, then what usually happens when the House and Senate committees get together to iron out the differences, is they spilt the difference. This of course would be a disaster for Amtrak and may well force David Gunn to shut down operations.

If you like you can read a little more about the current goings on in Congress here in the NARP Newsletter.