[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 148 (2002), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11459]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                 AMTRAK

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Kerns). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Oregon (Mr. Blumenauer) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Mr. Speaker, I too would like to continue the 
discussion this evening on the future of Amtrak. There is a rumor going 
around the Capitol that Senator Byrd has put together a rescue that 
ties together the supplemental, the debt ceiling vote with resources 
that will keep Amtrak going. If that rumor is true, I say good for 
Senator Byrd for making it happen, but I say shame on Congress and the 
administration for making it necessary for yet another extraordinary 
step to keep America's passenger rail system going.
  This is sadly part of the 30-year history where Congress and numerous 
administrations have done their best to dismantle and slowly bleed 
Amtrak to death. What is perhaps most remarkable, Mr. Speaker, is not 
that we may be able to rescue Amtrak from being shut down this week, 
but that despite the system that has been inflicted upon them, they 
continue to exist and ridership continues to increase.
  It was a rather bizarre deal we saw in 1997, an exercise in denial on 
the part of the then-majority parties in Congress where they mandated 
in the last reauthorization a program under which for the next 5 years 
Amtrak would become self-sufficient. Part of that deal was that 
Congress, the Federal Government, would supply adequate resources to 
deal with the capital requirements for Amtrak, not unlike what happens 
in other industries where the United States, for instance, provides the 
infrastructure for aviation. There are now some in the administration 
and sadly some in Congress who are arguing, Shut it down. It is not 
self-supporting. They did not keep the deal.
  Well, Congress provided less than half of the money that was 
authorized. In no year did we provide the full capital allocation. Yet 
despite that, despite that, we have seen ridership increases that is 
not just passengers with train nostalgia. In the Pacific Northwest, we 
have seen almost three-quarters of a million people ride the Cascades 
rail corridor last year. Ridership has increased sixfold over the last 
8 years. We have heard about the situation that is taking place with 
ridership increases here in the eastern corridor. And all of us in 
Congress are well aware that if it were not for Amtrak, that sad week 
of September 11, without Amtrak, if people were relying on their SUVs 
and waiting for the grounded planes to travel, that there would have 
been one traffic jam from the Alexandria suburbs to New Haven, 
Connecticut. But we had Amtrak, and we did not have that desperate 
situation.
  We have also had people take to the floor and talk about what is 
happening in the Midwest and with the Texas Eagle down through the 
South. Mr. Speaker, we find that every administration since President 
Nixon was in office have underestimated Amtrak's customers who continue 
to ride, often not just the underfunded system and often-uncertain 
service, but in some cases the equipment has been deplorable. These 
same passengers deserve better treatment from us. They include people 
who ride in rural communities. They are people increasingly in the 
tourism and resort activities where people are traveling the rails for 
pleasure. There are thousands of businesspeople who are involved with 
these critical corridors. In fact, we are finding that each and every 
day in the New York City area, Amtrak controls the flow of 1,100 trains 
and more than 300,000 passengers in and out of that city.
  Despite a lack of clarity, the administration, and we have called 
them time and again when they have appeared before us on rail-related 
activities, our rail subcommittee in the Committee on Transportation 
and Infrastructure has asked the administration repeatedly, they have 
been in office now a year and a half, what is their position? What is 
their plan? How can we work together? We have received no response.
  Mr. Speaker, we have developed a bipartisan alternative under the 
leadership of the gentleman from New York (Mr. Quinn), the Chair, and 
the gentleman from Tennessee (Mr. Clement), the ranking member. It has 
been supported by over 162 Members in this body, a broad bipartisan 
coalition. It has a majority of the Senate ready to move forward with 
ongoing programs that will get us through this year, not with a Band-
Aid but in a way that actually enhances operation and security and puts 
us in a good position for the next Congress for full reauthorization.
  We should not be held ransom for a $205 million loan guarantee 
conditioned upon meeting some vague principles that, to the extent to 
which you can determine them, would be destructive. I strongly urge, 
Mr. Speaker, that we move forward, that we deal with the funding this 
year and be in a situation in the next Congress when we can reauthorize 
surface, reauthorize aviation, reauthorize rail. Give it the package 
that the American public deserves.

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