[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 87 (Wednesday, June 26, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H4036]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    SUPPORT FULL FUNDING FOR AMTRAK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentlewoman from Indiana (Ms. Carson) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Ms. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to join my 
colleagues in urging quick support for Amtrak to avert its collapse. 
The United States is not unlike any industrialized Nation in the world 
that has a need for quality rail passenger service, and America is not 
unlike any other industrialized Nation that is required to undergird 
financially its passenger rail service.
  The President and lawmakers, the United States Congress, must come 
together quickly to prevent the economic and human hardship that would 
result from an Amtrak shutdown. That hardship would be suffered by 
Amtrak workers and their families. It would be most harsh, and the 
damage to our economy would be a calamity.
  We have heard over and over and over, Mr. Speaker, in these Chambers 
during this Congress how imperative it is to provide an economic 
stimulus for corporate America to ensure the continuation of jobs and 
to provide employment for unemployed workers across this country. Yet 
we are here tonight begging and pleading with the powers that be to 
support Amtrak, which indeed needs economic stimulus for the benefit of 
the continuation of employment of America's citizens, the citizens who 
have worked long and hard over the years to do a good job and have done 
a good job, and they have taken care of their families and they have 
been taxpayers across this country.
  Recently, Amtrak CEO David Gunn said if Amtrak did not receive a $200 
million loan immediately that it would have to begin shutting down 
operations.
  Mr. Speaker, it is imperative that we build a world-class passenger 
rail system in the United States. We cannot wait for highways and 
airports to become so overwhelmed that they too can no longer operate, 
and we cannot continue to hold the millions of Americans who rely on 
passenger service in limbo while we refuse to provide Amtrak with 
adequate funding. We must also engage in long-term planning to address 
future passenger transportation growth and show some forethought in 
crafting transportation solutions, not wait for this impending crisis 
to turn into an outright disaster.
  Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the 
aftermath which followed, we found that we were vulnerable in our 
society and in our economy when our transportation choices were limited 
and our mobility severely diminished. After the Federal Aviation 
Administration grounded all flights following the terrorist attacks, 
travelers turned to Amtrak. The ridership of Amtrak has skyrocketed. 
Revenues have risen up to 20 percent, and the ridership has increased 
over 8.2 percent. This shows that Amtrak does work and that it will 
continue to work if the United States Congress and the President is 
about the business of quickly responding to the needs of Amtrak, not 
unlike the way that it did for our airline industry when we provided a 
$5 billion grant to that industry and $10 billion additional resources 
in the event that our airline services decided that additional 
resources were needed to be guaranteed by this country.
  Mr. Speaker, I would encourage Members of Congress and the 
administration as well to act quickly, not politically, but quickly, 
for the benefit of the families who rely on us as Members of Congress 
and who rely on the support that we have already shown that we provide 
for other entities in our Nation so that we can go forward. We cannot 
afford the luxury of being a superpower in our mind and not allowing 
America to, in reality, be one by having a first-class passenger rail 
system. It is up to us, Mr. Speaker, to sustain Amtrak.

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