(Hearst Newspapers circulated the following article by Timothy Spence on March 19.)
WASHINGTON — Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta told Congress on Friday that continued federal subsidies to Amtrak “cannot be justified” and urged lawmakers to back the Bush administration’s plan to let the states take over passenger rail service.
Under pointed questioning from some lawmakers, Mineta repeated the Bush administration’s vision of creating a network of intercity rail hubs of 200 to 500 miles that would connect urban areas to airports and public transit systems by turning over operations to the states.
The federal role, he said, would be limited to capital improvements.
“Deteriorating infrastructure and declining service further the case that continued subsidies cannot be justified,” Mineta told the House Appropriations Committee’s transportation panel.
But several lawmakers raised pointed questions about the administration’s proposal.
“The Social Security issue is raging throughout my district, but I got to tell you, Amtrak is the bigger issue,” said Rep. John Sweeney, R-N.Y., whose upstate New York district hugs the Hudson River near the Albany-Rensselaer train station, the 14th busiest in the country.
Referring to the Bush proposal to create regional rail “compacts” among states, Sweeney told Mineta: “What it looks like back home is that the federal government is doing a dump — dumping the resources and responsibilities on the states and communities.”
Rep. John Olver, D-Mass., a supporter of federal funding for the passenger service, called Amtrak “a fishbone caught in our throat,” a reference to the disproportionate debate over a relatively small budget item in the U.S. Department of Transportation’s overall $59.5 billion request for next year.
Olver complained that the administration’s budget “irresponsibly uses the word ‘bankruptcy”‘ when talking about Amtrak.
“Do you know of any transit system or a rail passenger system anywhere else in the world that breaks even or makes money?” Olver repeatedly asked Mineta, who had referred to a 1997 law that required Amtrak to stand on its own.
The Bush administration’s 2006 budget calls for eliminating the subsidies that have kept Amtrak running for 34 years.
This year, the government provided one-third of Amtrak’s $3 billion operating budget and has provided $29 billion in subsidies since the National Rail Passenger Corp. was created in 1971 when freight railroads abandoned their financially troubled passenger service.
Despite concerns raised by both parties in the House about the Bush proposal, the administration won a victory Wednesday in the Senate with the defeat of a measure that would have included $1 billion for the rail network.
Amtrak’s future and money needs ignite debate each year between the White House and Congress. Every president since Ronald Reagan has sought to withdraw taxpayer support.
The Transportation Department’s budget request includes $35 billion for highways, $7.8 billion for public transit and $3 billion for airport improvements.
The only money proposed for Amtrak is $360 million to cover services the passenger rail system provides to commuter train operations in the Northeast, West Coast and Chicago area.