(Source: Miami Herald, July 8, 2011)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A six-year transportation funding bill that Republicans in the House of Representatives outlined Thursday would sharply cut highway and transit funding and seek to curb Amtrak and high-speed rail projects that the Obama administration supports.
The Mica plan also would cut Amtrak’s federal subsidy by 25 percent over the next two years, and would effectively cut $1.1 billion over two years from President Obama’s high-speed rail initiatives by redefining “high speed.”
Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., who heads the committee’s railroads panel, said the bill considered 125 mph the minimum for a project to be designated high-speed; the Department of Transportation’s threshold is 110 mph. The new definition could affect several projects under way across the country.
House Republicans voted earlier this year to cut funding for Amtrak and high-speed rail projects that Obama supports. Last month, Mica and Shuster introduced a bill to privatize Amtrak and let companies compete to operate its routes.
Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, a Democratic member of the committee, criticized the GOP plan.
“The Republicans prefer to protect tax loopholes and cuts that add tremendously to the national debt, yet won’t make needed investments that rebuild crumbling infrastructure and put people back to work,” DeFazio said. “We need robust investment, and this proposal does not measure up.”
Full story: Miami Herald