(The following article by Don Phillips appeared in the Washington Post on July 31.)
WASHINGTON — Amtrak is again facing a budget showdown this fall that could place the national passenger railroad in a severe financial squeeze, even as the Bush administration and key members of Congress square off over its long-term future.
While attention is being focused on a plethora of legislation to restructure Amtrak over the next six years, the more immediate crisis grows out of an unusually tight budget situation on Capitol Hill, compounded by the fact that the chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations subcommittees on transportation are highly critical of Amtrak, which has lost money throughout its 33-year existence.
In the end, the railroad may have to cut back spending meant to reverse deterioration of the Washington-Boston Northeast Corridor, and Amtrak could be left with barely enough money to limp through the next fiscal year, if that, say key members of Congress and Amtrak officials.
Yesterday, four Senate Republicans — Kay Bailey Hutchison (Tex.), Trent Lott (Miss.), Conrad Burns (Mont.) and Olympia J. Snowe (Maine) — unveiled a plan to grant Amtrak $12 billion in operating funds over six years and make available $48 billion in federally backed bonds to pay for capital improvements. Their plan came out two days after the Bush administration, which wants to give Amtrak $900 million next year, released details of its previously announced plan to turn train service over to multi-state compacts and end operating subsidies while providing federal grants for capital improvements. Amtrak has sought $1.8 billion for next year.
All four senators, like many members of Congress with constituents outside of the Northeast, made it clear that they will not support any plan that leads to the elimination of long-distance trains.
“I am extremely disappointed with what the administration came up with,” Lott said yesterday. “What they have proposed on Amtrak is a total non-starter. It will get the amount of consideration it deserves, which is nothing.”
But Federal Railroad Administrator Allan Rutter said the administration is not willing to increase its $900 million budget recommendation until some serious steps are taken toward reform.
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said she expects another shutdown crisis similar to one last summer if the administration sticks to its $900 million recommendation. A threatened shutdown of Amtrak and commuter railroads that use its facilities and crews was narrowly averted last summer when Congress provided additional money.
“When it comes to Amtrak, the administration had better be careful what it asks for,” Murray said.
But even Amtrak’s closest friends in Congress said the upcoming fiscal year probably will be a bad one. “Given the [budget] allocation for transportation, I wouldn’t want to bet the ranch on the $1.8 billion,” said Sen. Thomas R. Carper (D-Del.). “I’m hearing just how tight it is.”
Hutchison, likewise, said she doubted that Amtrak will get any more than $1.4 billion from the Senate Appropriations Committee. The House Appropriations Committee approved a $900 million budget.
“There’s a real serious problem” with $1.4 billion, and $900 million would shut down all passenger service, Amtrak President David L. Gunn said. He said Amtrak needs $870 million just for operating funds and debt repayment. Even the $1.4 billion figure would cut the capital budget to $394 million from $794 million, he said.
Amtrak received $1.2 billion in the current fiscal year. But Gunn said most of the spending for capital improvements was ramped up toward the end of the fiscal year, and capital projects require long lead time. He said supplies have already been ordered for the new fiscal year, and Amtrak is already spending at a $1.8 billion rate.
“They’re going to be faced with a problem,” Gunn said. “I’m not going to stop unless the board stops me. Then they’ll have to tell me what not to do.”
The administration bill would break Amtrak into three companies — a private company to operate trains under contract to states or compacts of states, a private infrastructure company to maintain and operate the Northeast Corridor under contract to a multi-state compact, and a government corporation that would retain Amtrak’s current right to use the tracks of freight railroads. States would be responsible for all operating losses; the federal government would provide matching funds for capital improvements and all funding required to catch up on deferred capital needs in the corridor.
The plan would likely mean the end of most, if not all, long-distance trains because federal operating subsidies would be phased out and all states on a route would have to agree to keep running it.
Rutter said Bush understands that the states could not take over service immediately, and all changes would be phased in gradually. He said the administration is committed to spending money on the Northeast Corridor and spreading passenger service to regions where it will help relieve congestion.
One of the administration’s reasons for releasing its bill now, Rutter said, is to start a serious debate on the structure of Amtrak, rather than limp along from crisis to crisis. “Absent our involvement, nobody wanted to talk about that,” Rutter said.