(Reuters circulated the following story by John Crawley on February 7.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Bush administration has no plan for Amtrak other than bankruptcy, the national passenger railroad’s president told employees on Monday after the White House proposed no operating subsidy in its 2006 budget.
The administration’s proposal for no subsidies next year was “irresponsible and surprising,” Amtrak President David Gunn told employees in an e-mail message.
“In a word, they have no plan for Amtrak other than bankruptcy,” Gunn said.
Amtrak received $1.2 billion this year and has long said it cannot survive without substantial federal assistance. Congress can defy the White House by proposing its own funding level over the next several months.
Amtrak has received a subsidy annually since it was created in 1971, even during several years when presidential administrations proposed no funding.
This year, the Bush administration has put forward a scenario for Amtrak’s demise under bankruptcy as it currently operates and $360 million in funding to support its commuter operations in the event it stops running.
Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta told reporters at a news conference the drastic step was “a call to action” for Congress to address Amtrak’s problems. “We’ve decided to go to zero to get their attention,” Mineta said.
The administration wants to turn Amtrak into an operating company, require greater state participation in funding rail operations and open up its routes to competitive bidding.
Gunn is hoping its supporters on Capitol Hill will realize Amtrak is setting ridership records — 25 million last year — and again rally to its side even though it has never made money, and lost more than $600 million last year. Amtrak almost breaks even in operating trains on its flagship route between Boston and Washington.
“The president’s proposal is only the start of a long legislative process, and we’re taking it very seriously,” Gunn said. “We have strong support in Congress and a lot of support across the country.”
Separately, the controversial nomination of former American Airlines
The seven-member board is still down three voting members even after two nominees moved forward last year on recess appointments, which skirt Senate confirmation requirements but are temporary.
Crandall, whose nomination in 2003 became tangled in congressional politics over the aggressive way he ran American, said in an interview he had not heard from anyone in Washington about the status of his nomination.
Crandall said he gave money to the presidential campaigns of Democrats John Kerry and Howard Dean last year, but would not speculate on whether that explained the silence from Republican-run Washington on his appointment prospects.
The White House would not comment on the specifics surrounding Crandall’s nomination and would not say if it would be resubmitted.