National Association of Railroad Passengers: www.narprail.org

Remarks by Senators Lautenberg and Lott at Press Conference

Senator Lautenberg: This is neither a partisan issue nor a regional one. We have a chance to get Amtrak back on track...The future of Amtrak is looking bright...Congress is ready to pass a bill to revitalize Amtrak...This year it's not going to be that difficult to get the bill passed. I am the chairman of the Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine. This bill is my top priority.

Our aviation system is getting more and more congested. When I fly to my state, I spend more time on the tarmac than in the air...Even Estonia spends more than twice per capita what we spend on passenger rail. Over 100,000 every day get on and off trains on the Northeast Corridor in New Jersey.

Congress is ready to come on board with a healthy Amtrak.

Senator Lott: There are some things in Washington that are truly bipartisan. I believe that’s true for rail--both passenger and freight. This used to be the Lott-Lautenberg bill. Now it’s Lautenberg-Lott. We never miss a step. We’re going forward...There are limits to how many lanes we can build, how many planes we can fly.

Are we going to have an adequately funded NEC? Are we going to have a national rail passenger service? We’ll have at least half dozen Republicans and 8 or 9 Democrats (as original co-sponsors).

This is about reform and accountability. We’re going to try to find some efficiencies. [Draws analogy with seatbelt laws. When the feds threatened to withhold funding if states failed to enact seatbelt laws, Mississippi did nothing. When feds offered extra funding to states for enacting such laws, Mississippi quickly enacted one.]

Let’s expect some efficiencies and some savings.

S. 294 will be introduced this afternoon. I am delighted to be a part of it.

There are incentives to look at [weaker] routes and improve them. If that doesn’t occur, there’d be a process of what to do in the future. One of the ways you improve service is upgrade track, equipment.

We expect Amtrak not to be satisfied with the status quo. We nudge them in the direction [of not being satisfied].

Reporters’ Questions

Q: What about the Administration?

Lott: We met with Administration officials a while back. They had some misconceptions about what was in our bill. I believe the new transportation secretary wants to work with us...I never start off looking for a fight, but looking for ways to find common ground, amendments we can offer. We won’t be pushovers, but we don’t have a monopoly on good ideas.

Q: How do we pay for it?

Lautenberg: Same way we find money to pay for other things.

Lott: It’s a matter of setting priorities. What should be a priority of the federal government? Transportation, across the board. It’s intestate, it’s national, it’s moving people, it’s about safety, it’s about security.

[Both senators referred to their respective membership on key committees--Lott is on Finance, and Lautenberg is on Appropriations.]

Lautenberg: I believe this will happen. If it doesn’t, it’s only a matter of time [before it does].