(The Charleston Gazette posted the following article by Paul J. Nyden on its website on March 23.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — During budget debates on the Senate floor late Friday, Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., convinced a majority of senators to keep Amtrak alive.
The Bush administration opposed Byrd’s efforts to ensure train service continues to scores of cities across the nation.
Byrd offered an amendment to the budget bill that will invest $1.8 billion in Amtrak’s National Passenger Rail Service. Bush wanted to put only $900 million into helping Amtrak, which would have meant rail service might have closed down within six months.
In West Virginia, Amtrak trains stop in White Sulphur Springs, Montgomery, Charleston, Huntington and Martinsburg.
“This funding level will ensure that the railroad remains viable throughout the entirety of 2004,” Byrd said. “It will also allow the railroad to make some long-deferred capital investments to improve Amtrak’s reliability and ensure the continuation of safe and timely rail service.
“These investments include the replacement of Amtrak’s aging track infrastructure and the rehabilitation of a number of railroad bridges that are several decades old and in desperate need of renewal.”
Byrd saved funding for Amtrak in the face of Bush administration efforts to win approval for huge new tax cuts, as the nation focuses on the war in Iraq.
Last year, Bush won a $1.3 trillion tax cut, most of which will go to the wealthiest one percent of Americans.
Friday, Bush won another $626 billion in tax cuts, as the House narrowly approved his new budget plans and as the Senate rejected efforts to reduce his tax cuts to $350 million.
Sens. Byrd and Jay Rockefeller, both D-W.Va., have repeatedly questioned Bush’s tax cuts, as have Reps. Nick J. Rahall and Alan Mollohan, both D-W.Va.
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., failed to return repeated telephone calls over the last month asking her views on the tax cuts.
Bush’s budget plans didn’t include any estimate of the costs of the current war in Iraq.
Byrd has consistently fought to help Amtrak remain alive, often pointing out how much other modes of transportation — especially airplanes and motor vehicles — are supported by federal airport and highway spending.
“Amtrak is the nation’s passenger rail service. It is not just service for big cities or for urban regions. For many rural Americans, Amtrak represents the only major transportation link to the rest of the country,” Byrd said.
Byrd’s proposal passed as an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2004 Budget Resolution.