Actually, and I hate that I'm saying this, but it is a pretty fine line. Note that he says "new passenger rail lines". That would allow him to stop the Madison to MKE line since he considers that new, even though it was really an extension of the existing Hiawatha line, yet still allow him to ask for funding for the existing (not new) Hiawatha line.From Walker's letter to Ray LaHood:This isn't hypocrisy. Walker has said many times that he is in favor of the Hiawatha corridor. He says that it's a proven commodity that people use. And as a plus, any improvements made to the corridor will decrease Wisconsins subsidy. Lost in all the fuss over the refusal of funds was that Walker tried to divert this same amount of money to the Hiawathas for this. So this isn't hypocrisy.
http://www.wqow.com/Global/story.asp?S=13472336More than 60 years ago, the federal government had the foresight to recognize that the American people no longer wanted to be limited by fixed-track passenger rail. The massive investment in our federal interstate highway system spurred the greatest economic expansion in our nation's history. For us to now to go backwards on transportation makes little sense. I believe that continuing responsible investments in our road infrastructure is a key to growing our economy and creating jobs.
I strongly encourage the federal government to halt all investments in new passenger rail lines and instead devote this funding to state and local road projects. All across the country, in states like Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida, the voters chose new governors who are opposed to diverting transportation funding to passenger rail. I believe it would be unwise for the Obama Administration to ignore the will of the voters.
Nice try, but he's a hypocrite.
Again, I admit that it's a fine line, but it is there.