No, checked the news reports, this is a authorization extension and funding deal for Transportation and the FAA. In order to provide funding for 6 months, the SAFETEA-LU act has to be extended as well. The bill which is linked to in the Streetsblog article covers "extension of surface and air transportation programs", so Amtrak funding is probably in there somewhere. If the bill passes, the details will be publicized in a day or two after that.
Amtrak Threatened With Shutdown Budget
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I guess I should have stated things a bit differently. Amtrak funding is nowhere in any authorization bill. The amount of money Amtrak receives is determined by the appropriations bill. I believe there were a few years early in the last decade where Amtrak was funded without an authorization, and there have certainly been years (such as the Amtrak Reform Council years) where Amtrak was authorized to receive a bunch of money that it never got (because it was never appropriated).
So, again, regardless of what happens with the authorization going through congress, it will have zero impact on the budgetary fight that is looming regarding Amtrak service in the next year.
jis
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If it passes, all that this means is that the lack of authorization cannot be used as an argument against appropriation. Other than that it means very little IMHO.
In reality The debt control agreement and its fallout is what will determine the actual appropriation for everything, which will most likely be less than whatever authorization is in place.
TraneMan
Conductor
The best thing we can do is pull the troops! WE are wasting SOO much money on a war for nothing!
I was talking to a guy last night who is going to be deployed, and he said I wish this stops! He Said there is very little part of this is worth it, otherwise, most of it is a huge waste of money.
I was talking to a guy last night who is going to be deployed, and he said I wish this stops! He Said there is very little part of this is worth it, otherwise, most of it is a huge waste of money.
jis
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Pulling the troops from Iraq and Afghanistan will help reduce the W inspired off budget stuff, that is now on budget to get reduced. but that will still leave 600 odd other troop deployments all over the world in various countries that eats money too. We need to get a plan to start withdrawing some of those and stop being the policeman of the world without any funding from those that we police. In short.... pull in our horns a bit and reduce the obvious imperial overreach.
As for transportation, we need a rational policy and a balanced plan - balanced among the modes. This squabbling between air, road, rail and water is insanely unproductive at the end of the day and leads to bad suboptimal plans.
As for transportation, we need a rational policy and a balanced plan - balanced among the modes. This squabbling between air, road, rail and water is insanely unproductive at the end of the day and leads to bad suboptimal plans.
henryj
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⠀⠀⠀
I sure hope we can do a better job of taking care of ourselves than we did "taking care" of the rest of the world, but with this government and these voters I'm certainly not counting on it. In the end it probably doesn't really matter if it's Barack Obama or Mitt Romney or even Rick Perry in office because the whole system is just so broken and so completely beholden to benefactors and lobbyists at this point. It's gotten so screwed up that some of the loudest voices attacking populist programs are populist groups themselves. They're just so clueless they can't grasp that they're cutting off their own arms to save the necks of those above them. You couldn't make this stuff up if you tried.
The problem is that issues are way too linked in peoples' minds, and so you get situations where outrage against the bank bailouts as a form of government waste turns into rage against the size of Medicare/Medicaid, etc. Now, some of this is generic, deficit-related outrage (and I'll grant that there's good cause for that given the size of the deficits over the last few years, Keynesian stimulus or not) and some is situation-specific...but because of issue linking you're getting a lot of collateral damage in the process.
The six month extension of transportation and FAA funding at current levels sailed through the House yesterday - which includes Amtrak as far as I can tell.
However, Senator Coburn (R-Ok) has blocked the route to a quick "unanimous consent" vote in the Senate because he wants to kill the 1.5% of the transportation funding that goes to Transportation Enhancements - bicycle & pedestrian programs, landscaping for scenic beautification, historic preservation, rails to trails, etc. The deadline on the FAA extension is this Friday and the entire Transportation funding the end of the month (and fiscal year), so the leadership want to get the extension bills through so they can fight over the new authorization framework later.
Streetblog links:
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/09/14/coburn-blocks-quick-senate-vote-on-transportation-extension/
Highlights of Amtrak and passenger rail hearing in the Senate:
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/09/14/yes-amtrak-can-be-saved-as-long-as-republican-proposals-fail/#more-115774
news updates: http://dc.streetsblog.org/
The extension bill is expected to pass, but it could get a little testy. What it means for Amtrak is a 6 month extension of business as usual. If Boardman is waiting for ultimate clarification from Congress on the future of the LD trains, that is not coming anytime soon.
However, Senator Coburn (R-Ok) has blocked the route to a quick "unanimous consent" vote in the Senate because he wants to kill the 1.5% of the transportation funding that goes to Transportation Enhancements - bicycle & pedestrian programs, landscaping for scenic beautification, historic preservation, rails to trails, etc. The deadline on the FAA extension is this Friday and the entire Transportation funding the end of the month (and fiscal year), so the leadership want to get the extension bills through so they can fight over the new authorization framework later.
Streetblog links:
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/09/14/coburn-blocks-quick-senate-vote-on-transportation-extension/
Highlights of Amtrak and passenger rail hearing in the Senate:
http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/09/14/yes-amtrak-can-be-saved-as-long-as-republican-proposals-fail/#more-115774
news updates: http://dc.streetsblog.org/
The extension bill is expected to pass, but it could get a little testy. What it means for Amtrak is a 6 month extension of business as usual. If Boardman is waiting for ultimate clarification from Congress on the future of the LD trains, that is not coming anytime soon.
henryj
Conductor
Well they should kill that silly stuff and divert the funds to some new Amtrak equipment. If Boardman keeps waiting he is going to find himself out of a job.
jis
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If you really believe that anyone will lose his or her job for not aggressively fighting Congress on the LD issue..... well.... I have some beach property in Nevada to offer. Cynical? Moi? Perish the thought.
In particular after Boardman has managed to order more equipment than was done by his three predecessors combined, including equipment for single level LD trains, you think not placing orders for some more equipment will cause anyone to make him lose his job? Really?
Carefull, If California falls in the ocean from "The Big ONE" :giggle: there will be beach front property in Vegas.If you really believe that anyone will lose his or her job for not aggressively fighting Congress on the LD issue..... well.... I have some beach property in Nevada to offer. Cynical? Moi? Perish the thought.
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