CNN
WA****NGTON (AP) -- A nearly $15 billion Amtrak bill passed the House
on Wednesday as lawmakers rallied around an alternative for travelers
saddled with soaring gas prices.
A record 25.8 million passengers took Amtrak in the most recent fiscal
year.
The bipartisan bill, which passed by a veto-proof margin of 311-104,
would authorize funding for the national passenger railroad over the
next five years. Some of the money would go to a program of matching
grants to help states set up or expand rail service.
Besides the $14.9 billion provided for Amtrak and intercity rail, an
amendment to the bill would authorize $1.5 billion for Wa****ngton's
Metro transit system over the next 10 years.
The White House has threatened a veto, saying the bill doesn't hold
Amtrak accountable for its spending. But similar legislation has
passed the Senate, also with enough sup****t to override a veto.
"Nothing could be more fitting to bring before the Congress today, on
a day when gasoline has reached $4.05 a gallon across the United
States on average," said Rep. John Mica, R-Florida, a longtime Amtrak
critic who teamed up with Trans****tation Committee Chairman James
Oberstar, D-Minnesota, on the legislation.
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Gee ... Halliburton was COUNTING on that money too, after
it was laundered through Iraq :-)
Although I know x-percent of this funding will be wasted, it
was STILL a good idea - and NECESSARY. Rail travel - be it
people or cargo, long distance or short - is vastly more
fuel-efficient than using autos, trucks, even busses.
The US rail system badly NEEDS a rapid upgrade so we can
at LEAST triple its use and maintain/improve overall safety
even under that new burden. The rail infrastructure is
comparatively CHEAP too ... the right-of-ways have been
there for a century and it's mostly two metal rails on
wood/cement cross-ties.
Yea, yea, not NEARLY the op****tunities for overcharging
and kick-backs you'd get from building a new 8-lane
highway .... so sad. Oh, and Exxon won't get to sell
as much expensive gasoline to frequent train-travelers
either ... a tragedy again ........
Anyway, I'd like to see consultants from countries that
are heavily into state-of-the-art rail systems involved
here - europe & Japan. They know how to do it RIGHT, and
given the path of fuel prices WE now have the same needs
and motivations THEY had many years ago to invest in
top-notch rail service.
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