To NARP Members, April 26, 2005-

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

To NARP Members, April 26, 2005-

If your representative is a Republican, please urge him or her to

sign the pro-Amtrak letter now circulating in the House, addressed to

Chairman Joseph Knollenberg (R-MI) of the transportation/treasury

appropriations subcommittee. In particular, note that the following

Republicans who signed the earlier letter to the Budget Committee

chairman have not (yet) signed the new letter:

IL: Timothy Johnson

MT: Rehberg

NJ: LoBiondo, Saxton and Christopher Smith

OH: Ney

NY: Kelly and Walsh

PA: Gerlach

The letter is circulated by Reps. Castle (DE), Boehlert (NY), Simmons

(CT) and Fitzpatrick (PA). To sign on, legislators should contact Jim

Catella in Castle's office (5-4165).

Here are a few key sentences from the letter. It begins: "We are

writing

to express our support for $1.8 billion in federal funding for Amtrak

in

the Fiscal Year 2006 Transportation, Treasury and Housing and Urban

Development, the Judiciary and the District of Columbia Appropriations

Bill." Near the end, the letter states: "We certainly understand your

desire to be accountable with taxpayer dollars and we believe Amtrak

is

headed in the right direction. As Members of Congress it is our duty

to

continue to provide Americans with effective and environmentally

friendly transportation options."

===========================================

The New York Times has a good, positive editorial, "Keep Amtrak

Going." http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/26/opinion/26tue2.html?

th&emc=th

 

[Save Our Trains Michigan]

To NARP Members, April 28, 2005--

(1) Signatures still are being collected for the letter from House

Republicans to Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Joseph Knollenberg

(R-MI), about which I e-mailed you on Tuesday. Again, legislators

wishing to sign on should contact Jim Catella in Rep. Castle's office

(5-4165).

(2) With Congress about to recess for just over a week, some

legislators may have town meetings scheduled near you next week. This

is a good time to remind them that you support full funding for Amtrak,

and you completely disagree with the Administration's zero budget

request, which was reaffirmed on April 21 by Office of Management and

Budget Director Josh Bolten.

(3) It is also a good time to ask your legislator to join the new rail

passenger caucus. Any member who wants to join should contact one of

these people:

* Greg Calhoun of Michael Fitzpatrick's (R-PA) staff at 5-4276,

* Jim Catella of Michael Castle's (R-DE) staff at 5-4165,

* Carlos Fenwick of Robert Andrews' (D-NJ) staff at 5-6501 or

* Tim Daly of Earl Blumenauer's (D-OR) staff at 5-4811.

(The five digit phone numbers listed above are the common way that Hill

staff refer to phone numbers; all begin with "22" to complete the seven

digit phone number)

The "Dear Colleague" letter from these four legislators begins,

"Protect your constituents who use America's passenger rail system

everyday. Become a member of the Passenger Rail Caucus to ensure the

long-term sustainability of America's passenger rail system."

As you may know, there are Capitol Hill caucuses for about as many

different causes as there are national associations, so it's great that

passenger rail advocates on the Hill are organizing as well.

To contact your House member, go to: <http://www.house.gov> and enter

your zip code at the top.

To contact your Senators, go to <http://www.senate.gov> and chose your

state from the drop-down menu.

(4) My statement to the House Appropriations Subcommittee regarding

Fiscal 2006 Amtrak funding is on our website:

<http://www.narprail.org/test.htm>

Thanks for your continued support!

--Ross B. Capon

NARP Executive Director