(The Billings Gazette posted the following story by Ted Monoson on its website on August 1.)
BILLINGS, Mont. — The Bush administration’s proposal to overhaul Amtrak is being panned by Montana Sens. Conrad Burns and Max Baucus.
Baucus, a Democrat, sent a letter Wednesday to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta warning that the administration’s proposal could severely damage Montana’s economy.
The Bush proposal would replace federal subsidies for Amtrak with a system of matching grants to the states. Under the proposal, over a six-year period the states would assume much of the responsibility for operating the railroad system. It would allow states to join together to build and operate short-haul high-speed rail routes. It also would allow other companies to compete with Amtrak.
“Abandoning the federal government’s responsibility to support Amtrak will mean certain doom for passenger rail service in Montana, but, more importantly, it will have devastating economic effects on the Montana communities that Amtrak serves,” Baucus wrote.
Burns, a Republican, also opposes the proposal and joined three fellow Republican senators — Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, Trent Lott of Mississippi, and Olympia Snowe of Maine — on Wednesday to offer an alternative. All four senators are members of the Senate Commerce Committee that has jurisdiction over Amtrak.
The plan would authorize $60 billion for Amtrak over six years, with $12 billion coming from the federal treasury and $48 billion from tax credit bonds issued by a nonprofit corporation that the bill would create. States would have to match 20 percent of the value of the money they received from the bonds and the money would be used for repairs and infrastructure improvements.
Amtrak was created by Congress in 1970 and combined the assets of several railroads that were going to stop transporting passengers. The law requires Amtrak to be self-sufficient and turn a profit. The railroad has failed to live up to the mandate and its president, David L. Gunn, has told Congress that it will need $1.8 billion in federal help next year. The Bush administration has proposed giving Amtrak $900 million for next year.
The Republican senators’ proposal would eliminate the self-sufficiency requirement from the law. It does not include provisions to permit state operation or management of the rail routes.
Although Baucus shares Burns opposition to the Bush administration’s proposal, he has not signed onto the Republican plan. He said that he was still reviewing it.
In his letter to Mineta, Baucus noted a recent Montana Department of Transportation study determined that the Empire Builder rail line that runs along the high-line contributes $13 million yearly to the state’s economy.
“At a time when states are carrying a heavy financial burden, shifting funding responsibility for the operation of Amtrak from the federal government to cash strapped states is unrealistic,” Baucus wrote. “We ought to work together on a common sense approach to address Amtrak’s immediate infrastructure needs, and develop a comprehensive long-term approach that makes intercity and passenger service more efficient and within a level of fiscal support we can afford.”