(The following story by Maria Recio appeared on the Fort Worth Star-Telegram website on January 23.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Texas was a winner in the $820 billion spending bill passed by the Senate on Thursday, with money for highways and myriad projects in Tarrant County as well as funding for Amtrak that will keep the Texas Eagle operating another year.
The Texas Eagle, a Chicago-to-San Antonio train that stops in Fort Worth, had been one of the endangered long-distance routes if Amtrak did not get a large enough federal subsidy to operate a national system. It got $1.22 billion.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee who led the fight for Amtrak funding, said she is pleased with the outcome, adding, “This year I hope Congress will enact my American Rail Equity Act to reform and revitalize Amtrak.”
The spending bill earmarks about $470 million for 284 projects in Texas, according to the Taxpayers for Common Sense, a citizens group.
It puts off a controversial labeling regulation that cattlemen had opposed. Rep. Henry Bonilla, R-San Antonio, authored the provision that puts the country-of-origin labeling (COOL) rule for all commodities except fish on hold for two years.
“Country-of-origin labeling could be disastrous to our meat industry, Bonilla said. “We owe it to our nation’s meat producers, processors, retailers and consumers to investigate before acting.”
The industry has been hurt by the recent mad cow disease scare in Washington state.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, applauded passage of the bipartisan spending bill and noted that he helped obtain funding for several projects, including $7.35 million for the Interstate 69 corridor, a project he worked closely on with Hutchison; $2.14 million for an infrastructure upgrade in Austin, $1.48 million for improvements in emergency communications in Harris County; and $994,000 for a Hispanic medical research facility in the Rio Grande Valley.