(The following report appeared on the Congressional Quarterly website on October 26.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senators turned back a Republican attempt to eliminate Amtrak’s most costly long-distance routes Thursday, with more votes expected throughout the day.
Lawmakers defeated, 28-66, an amendment by Sen. John E. Sununu, R-N.H., that would have decreased funding for any Amtrak route requiring a federal subsidy of $200 per passenger or more.
The amendment would have lowered the subsidy threshold by $25 each year until it reached $100 per passenger.
Sununu argued that the amendment was fiscally sound, given that long distance routes represent only 15 percent of the passenger railroad’s ridership but require 43 percent of its finances to operate.
“The vast majority of anyone who enjoys or depends on service through Amtrak would not be affected,” Sununu said.
Sununu’s amendment was in keeping with the administration’s position on Amtrak. The White House would prefer to see Amtrak, which it considers inefficient and mismanaged, broken up and its money-losing long distance routes privatized.
But because there are Amtrak stations in every state, and because it is sometimes the only commercial transportation available for rural communities, the fight over Amtrak usually breaks down along regional, rather than partisan, lines. Indeed, members of both parties opposed Sununu’s amendment.
Lawmakers have argued for years about what substantive changes to Amtrak’s business model should be made, if any. But they have yet to resolve the question. Instead, Amtrak has typically been given just enough funding to limp along year to year.