[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11271-11272]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 AMTRAK

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Madam President, I rise today to talk about Amtrak. 
Our Amtrak national rail passenger system is teetering on the brink of 
bankruptcy. They have said they need $200 million in operating cash or 
the entire system will grind to a halt very soon. The effect of such a 
shutdown would be devastating.
  With the Independence Day weekend approaching, and the number of 
airline flights slashed since September 11, families throughout the 
Nation are counting on Amtrak to get them to their destinations. If 
Amtrak is not running, those families will add to the millions of cars 
already expected to crowd our Nation's highways.
  Amtrak has already received more than 100,000 reservations for the 
holiday weekend. Reservations account for about half of Amtrak's 
expected passenger load.
  I have noticed from articles in the paper that people are already 
beginning to question whether Amtrak service is going to be there, so 
they are already suffering cancellations, which adds to the deficits we 
already have.
  I have always been a supporter of Amtrak, but sometimes it has been 
hard because Amtrak has not really come to grips with the 
inefficiencies in the system. I hope Mr. Gunn, the new CEO of Amtrak--
and I appreciate so much his willingness to come in and take over this 
railroad operation at this time--will make a difference. He has already 
fired mid-level managers. Certainly, I think anybody looking at the 
labor situation in Amtrak would realize that the rail unions really are 
out of line with other workers in our country. Amtrak has never engaged 
in tough negotiations with its unions, even 4 years ago, when we were 
trying to reauthorize Amtrak. As a result, labor costs are out of line 
with other workers in our country. A 5-year severance package for 
Amtrak employees, as in other rail unions, is way beyond the norm for 
most union workers or other workers in our country.
  I do hope the unions will work with us to try to bring efficiency in 
both management, administration, contracting out, and overall severance 
packages that are in an alarming condition and have put us in such a 
precarious situation.
  Amtrak has not come forward with its true financial condition in many 
instances. Mortgaging Penn Station last year was quite irresponsible. I 
didn't like it at all. I think we should have met this head on.
  On the other hand, there are some Members of Congress who have been 
so recalcitrant about Amtrak; I can understand Amtrak's unwillingness 
to come and bare its financial soul to Members of Congress when they 
know they are going to get their heads chopped off.
  We need to step back and take a responsible approach. We need a 
passenger rail system. It is part of a multimodal system that will 
serve the needs of all of the people. A skeleton that would go across 
the top of our country, down the west coast, across the bottom/southern 
part of the country, up to the east coast with one line right down the 
middle would give us a solid national rail system where States could 
then form compacts and feed into those systems. In my State of Texas, 
the DART, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit, is feeding its train into the 
Amtrak system.
  Those are the possibilities we have if we know we have a dependable 
national rail passenger system. This means a whole system. It does not 
mean just the Northeast corridor.
  One of the problems we have had is the rest of the system has been 
starved year after year while the Northeast corridor has gotten the 
lion's share of funding. We must acknowledge once and for all this is 
going be a national system. We are all going to be in this together.
  All of us who believe in a national rail system should say: This is 
not going to be a piece of a system that is subsidized heavily and 
another piece that isn't. We need to consider it as a system. We need 
to fund it well.
  Some people have said: We have to subsidize Amtrak too much. We have 
been subsidizing Amtrak to the tune of $520 million annually; whereas 
we have subsidized highways to the tune of $30 billion, and $10 billion 
per year on aviation.
  I ask unanimous consent for an additional 2 minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mrs. HUTCHISON. We have seen the subsidies. Some are user fees but 
some are not. We just bailed out the airline industry because we knew 
it was essential for our economy. In Texas, we send billions of dollars 
to the highway trust fund. We get 88 cents on the dollar back. We are 
subsidizing other States' highways.
  I don't mean that I want Texas to have to get 100 percent. Our 
National

[[Page 11272]]

Highway System is built on a national system concept. That is what we 
need for Amtrak. We need to say: Yes, some States are getting more than 
others. Maybe States should step to the plate more. I would be willing 
to say that my State should step to the plate and help in these 
subsidies, just as I think every State that receives service should. 
That would be a worthy reform.
  The bottom line is, this should be a national system that we support 
as part of our national security, our homeland security, a multimodal 
system that provides transportation for all the people of our country 
in a convenient way and in a way that is most necessary.
  We have aviation; we have highways. Rail is an important third part 
of our overall transportation system.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senator from Idaho is recognized.

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