WASHINGTON — A Senate subcommittee voted Wednesday to defy President Bush and provide $1.2 billion for Amtrak next year, more than doubling the amount the White House wants for the financially ailing passenger railroad, according to a wire service.
The transportation subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee also voted to ignore Bush’s plan to cut $8.6 billion from federal highway spending next year.
The president proposed the reduction in February by opting to follow current law, which requires highway spending to track revenue collected from the government’s gasoline tax.
That revenue has been fading as the economy has cooled, and under Bush’s proposal funds for road-building and repairs would drop to $23.2 billion. But the plan has met bipartisan resistance in Congress, where lawmakers are loath to accept cuts in such spending, particularly in an election year.
“I put into our bill what I really believe is the need we have for Amtrak, for highway funding, particularly at a time when our economy is floundering,” Sen. Patty Murray ( news, bio, voting record), D-Wash., the subcommittee chairwoman, said after the meeting.
Bush has proposed providing $521 million for Amtrak for the federal budget year starting Oct. 1.
Administration officials have said the carrier should adopt long-term reforms before it will get more money. They have proposed ending federal operating subsidies to intercity passenger rail, a step that could threaten the survival of money-losing trains serving many states.
Amtrak officials have asked for $1.2 billion for next year. A counterterrorism bill approved Wednesday by Congress would provide it with $205 million for the rest of this fiscal year, enough to let the railroad avert the first systemwide shutdown in its 31 years.
In a sign of a possible battle over the aid, the subcommittee’s top Republican, Sen. Richard Shelby ( news, bio, voting record) of Alabama, said, “I believe it goes too far in throwing money at Amtrak.”
The provisions were included in a $64.7 billion transportation bill for next year. The measure would provide $9.2 billion more than Bush sought and $3.7 billion over this year’s total. The House has yet to write its version.
The bill would also provide $4.95 billion for the new Transportation Security Administration, $150 million more than Bush. The agency is supposed to protect transportation systems against terrorist attacks.
Meanwhile, the full Senate Appropriations Committee voted 29-0 for a $26.3 billion energy and water projects measure. It would provide $4.65 billion for hundreds of Army Corps of Engineers water projects, always popular with lawmakers, $475 million more than Bush requested.