Hotline #888 - July 28, 1995

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee is expected to take up its 1996 funding bill on August 1 or 2, with the full Committee acting two days later. Mark Hatfield (R.-Ore.) chairs both.

Hatfield has $1.2 billion less to work with than his subcommittee had a year ago and $300 million less than the House subcommittee had this year. Yet the House bill has $59 million less than what Amtrak needs to operate the existing system, in terms of operating grant and mandatory payments. By July 31, please ask your Senator to tell Hatfield that Amtrak is important and that Amtrak get at least $260 million for operations and $135 million for mandatory payments, and adequate capital. Otherwise, more service cuts are likely.

A pro-Amtrak letter to Hatfield was signed by several governors -- including nine Democrats and four Republicans. Insufficient time prevented getting even more.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Shuster (R.-Pa.) has a new version of H.R.1788, the Amtrak reauthorization bill. Labor would get the right to strike Amtrak 254 days after enactment. To balance that tilt towards labor, the Amtrak board is replaced 60 days after enactment with a seven-member emergency reform board. Two members would be chosen by the President in consultation with Speaker Gingrich and two with Majority Leader Dole. A mark-up now is expected August 2.

Both the House bill -- if it passes -- and the version already passed by the Senate Commerce Committee should go to the floor after Labor Day.

The House began debating H.R.2002, the 1996 transportation appropriations bill, on July 24. They approved it the next day, 361-61. There was one rare defeat for Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R.-Va.). This was an amendment by his ranking member, Ronald Coleman (D.-Tex.), restoring Section 13(c) transit labor protection. It was approved, 233-186.

The House rejected an amendment to increase transit funding, introduced by Tom Foglietta (D.-Pa.), on a 122-295 vote.

Fortunately, two bad amendments by Nick Smith (R.-Mich.) failed by large margins. One would have cut all funding for new rail transit starts and lost 114-302. The other would have cut out the meager $15 million in the bill for high-speed rail funding intended for corridors outside the Northeast Corridor. It was defeated 101-313.

Amtrak says it is progressing through the state permitting process in New England and expects to begin electrification construction in Rhode Island in November. It will get the final 90% design submittal from the contractors next week. Amtrak says there will be negotiations with suppliers on the train sets, with a contract award in October.

The annual meeting of the United Transportation Union was held at Chicago last weekend. The featured speaker was the president of the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes, Mac Fleming. He urged bringing all railroad employees into a single union. Membership in the UTU, the largest rail union, is declining and the union is in deep financial trouble. Now the UTU has a new president, Charles Little, who is open to thoughts of merger.

The Massachusetts Port Authority's new study favoring a new runway at Logan Airport is engulfed in controversy, strongly opposed by local neighborhoods. In a July 20 letter to Governor Weld, Boston Mayor Thomas Menino opposed the runway and offered cooperation in seeking alternatives, including the completion of the North-South rail link. He needs to hear praise for this.