WASHINGTON, D.C. — Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee have drafted a bill that would leave Amtrak with $500 million less than it says it needs next fiscal year and could require the shutdown of six long-distance routes, according to a copy of the legislation circulating among committee members.
The Washington Post reported that the bill, scheduled to be considered by the full committee tomorrow, would give Amtrak $760 million, although the railroad has asked for $1.2 billion to stabilize service while it undertakes a major reorganization. The 31-year-old passenger railroad, which has never turned a profit and nearly ran out of money this summer, plans to cut personnel and end its costly express freight service even if it gets the full amount.
“Anything less than $1.2 billion will take us straight back to the crisis of this past summer,” said Bill Schulz, an Amtrak spokesman.
The legislation also requires states to help subsidize some of Amtrak’s long-distance routes, which could jeopardize almost all passenger service in at least five states: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Kansas and Arkansas.
Amtrak has called for the eventual end to state-subsidized trains unless the states agree to cover all of their operating losses. But the House bill would shift even more responsibility for Amtrak funding.
The GOP language, which is not included in the Senate Appropriations Committee bill, is certain to be modified or deleted in an eventual compromise bill. Nonetheless, political insiders expressed surprise that the Republicans would take such an action before the November elections. The six trains pass through the districts of several key Republicans who are in tight races.
If approved, the legislation would terminate federal funding in July to routes where Amtrak loses more than $200 per passenger on a normal run, unless states pick up the costs above that amount, according to the draft bill. The long-distance routes include the Texas Eagle, which runs between Chicago and San Antonio; Three Rivers, between New York City and Chicago; the Southwest Chief, between Chicago and Los Angeles; the Sunset Limited, between Orlando and Los Angeles; the Kentucky Cardinal, between Chicago and Louisville; and the Pennsylvanian, between Philadelphia and Chicago.
Though the trains in question carry only about 3 percent of Amtrak’s annual 23 million riders, their shutdown would paralyze intercity rail service in many states, said Ross Capon, executive director of the National Association of Railroad Passengers.
But Rep. Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) said the bill would hold Amtrak routes to the same financial standard as federally subsidized airline routes. “If the railroad is to remain a viable entity, rather than one that lurches from crisis to crisis, serious reforms are required and cost sharing is essential,” he said in a statement.
The potential political complications illustrate why it has been so difficult to abandon train routes over the past three decades.
Rep. John L. Mica of Florida, a senior Republican, is in a fight for his political life in a state where the passenger train and high-speed rail have become an issue. His district would lose the Sunset Limited.
Louisville would lose the Kentucky Cardinal just months after Kentucky politicians talked Amtrak into extending the train across the Ohio River from its former terminal in Jeffersonville, Ind. The congresswoman for Louisville is Republican Anne M. Northup, who is in a tough reelection battle.
In Fort Worth, which would lose the Texas Eagle, the city recently dedicated a $4 million refurbished station for Amtrak, the Trinity Rail commuter service and other local transportation. Amtrak paid $1 million of the cost. Texas would lose almost all Amtrak service, a particular blow to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R), who has been a champion of Amtrak. Hutchison gave the keynote address at the opening of a remodeled Marshall, Tex., station where volunteers raised $1.4 million to match federal funds. That station would lose its only train.
“You can’t tie Amtrak’s arm behind their back and expect them to succeed,” Hutchison said yesterday, adding that she would “fight this all the way” if it reached the Senate.