Trump budget proposal slashes Amtrak funding while boosting highway spending

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Trump budget proposal slashes Amtrak funding while boosting highway spending

David Shepardson, Reuters Feb 10, 2020, 12:09 PM

The White House budget released on Monday proposed cutting funding for passenger rail carrier Amtrak, while calling for a significant boost in infrastructure spending.

The proposal would cut Amtrak funds by more than 50% over 2020 levels. It could cut funds to the congested northeast corridor from $700 million to $325 million and cut long-distance train funds from $1.3 billion to $611 million and then phase out support for long-distance trains.

Trump has proposed similar cuts in prior budgets and been rejected, and Democrats are not likely to go along. Trump has sparred with Democratic lawmakers over a $13 billion infrastructure project to build and repair tunnels and bridges in the New York City area known as "Gateway."

In November, Amtrak said for the year ended Sept. 30, it had set records for ridership, revenue, and financial performance, including 32.5 million customer trips, a year-over-year increase of 800,000 passengers.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-budget-slashes-amtrak-funding-while-boosting-highway-spending-2020-2

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. GOP hates public transportation and I really don't understand why.

[LastDemocratInSC]

6. Because it works and he prefers the notion that nothing the government does can work.

So, he makes sure that working things fail to prove his point.

[redstatebluegirl]

2. Taking care of the oil companies.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Trains use oil, too; lots of it. I don't think it's that.

I think it's that the GOP hates anything that's "public" in any way.

[Eugene]

8. Public transit tend to use fuel more efficiently.

The Koch network is trying to kill public transit efforts across the country. Long before that, Big Oil was part of the 1950's streetcar conspiracy.

Oh yes, conservatives also hate the "public" part about it, but they also public transit users as parasites.

[katmondoo]

3. I love trains, sometimes it is just a pain to drive and worse to take a plane unless you need to

get somewhere quickly and don't mind the abuse you have to face.

[lunasun]

5. Kick

[Freedomofspeech]

7. Read Blood for Oil.

Back in the early 1900's, the Fords and the Firestones lobbied against public transportation so they could sell cars and tires. Money, money, money....nothing changes in this country.

[Vogon_Glory]

9. Infrastructure, yeah right

Present-day Republicans' ideas of infrastructure begins with (maybe) adequate runway space for larger commercial and private airports and (definitely) landing pads for their billionaire campaign donors.