Repugs continue their attack on Amtrak

[marmar]

(The Hill) The House is proposing a 40 percent funding cut for Amtrak construction in a new passenger rail bill that was unveiled on Thursday by the chamber’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Amtrak has traditionally received about $1 billion per year from the federal government since its inception in 1971.

Most of the proposed reduction comes in funding for new rail construction projects, which would be reduced from approximately $1.3 billion per year under the last Amtrak appropriations measure to about $770 million annually beginning next year.

The cut would be offset by a slight increase in spending for current train operations to appease Democrats, but Republican leaders on the panel said the end result would still be a funding reduction that would force Amtrak to streamline its operations. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/217411-house-rail-bill-cuts-amtrak-funding-40-percent

[JEB]

1. Hey Pukes, Amtrak is a good thing.

[gordianot]

2. If you want to streamline any operations get rid of Republicans.

[deafskeptic]

8. K&R!!!!

Given the GOP's attitude about rebuilding USA, they should be downsized out of this! At best they deserve a d on infracture.

[lunasun]

3. Why? this is a good source of transportation used in many areas of the world . I used it 4 times in

The last year -all good experiences
But if you have a private jet and don't care about alternative transport it just doesn't make sense I guess

[Agschmid]

4. Good read thank you.

I wish the dismantling of our infrastructure would stop.

[MisterP]

5. could you just imagine if the Cato types applied the same standards to auto or air

as they do to rail? after LA's Carmageddon they would've had the state governments burn 200M cars and/or tear down as many airports as they could--after all, they're nothing more than unionized crony-capitalist money sinks, right?

[Populist_Prole]

9. Exactly. The hipocrisy is staggering yet they accept it without demur

To them, covering the entire country in asphalt is a public investment: Passenger rail, or any public transit at all is a wasteful subsidy.

[MisterP]

10. I have the funniest feeling that being a Cato donor ensures that you won't get on the wrong

side of its, ah, entirely objective bottom-line cost-benefit analyses ...

[Populist_Prole]

11. Yeah but it's so much more

They've managed to weave their worldview into the fabric of large blocs even the non-partisan ( albeit apathetic ) public at large. They've hijacked the discourse to the degree they've got so many snookered into thinking utopia is a web of subdivisions connected by 4 lane highways to walmart supercenters. To them, railroads are either the freight trains that block their passage at grade crossings or commuter rail/light rail that bring "undesirables" to their idyllic little strip-malled congested suburban hells.

[MisterP]

12. that's the Powell Memo: (rapacious) industry and (a certain cramped, triumphalist, paranoid) science

were seen as under attack, so since 1971 they've been building think tanks to hoist the flag high against the teeming hippie hordes dragging down Civilization (yes, that's how they think)

(and the funny thing is the BART works great with suburbs)

[Populist_Prole]

13. I like your witty sense of observation

And it is the usual suspects, and yes, they are aware of their numbered days of hegemony...biology and demographic shifts being what they are and looming large in ( what's left of ) their minds.

[jwirr]

6. And as soon as they get rid of this they will move on city bus services. Heaven forbid we have mass

transit run by the government.

[Initech]

7. I took the Pacific Surf Liner last week to Santa Barbara. It was awesome.

Tickets were cheap - $65 round trip, the seat next to me was empty. I could stretch out, plug my laptop in (which actually fit on the tray), drink some Stone Brew, no turbulence, it was pretty amazing. Beats flying by a long shot!