Hotline #962 - December 27, 1996

It looks like the budget debate within the White House will last longer than expected, so there's still time to write or e-mail your views on Amtrak funding. On December 25, the Washington Post reported that budget deliberations -- originally expected to be resolved by today -- could drag into the new year, though the president must make final choices "soon" if he is to get his formal budget document to Congress by the February 3 statutory deadline.

The Congressional Budget Office has said it overestimated the amount of budget-cutting needed to get to a balanced federal budget in 2002, and so has issued revised projections. President Clinton now is trying to decide how to use the extra money this makes available -- whether to avoid deeper Medicare cuts, to soften cuts for other programs (possibly including Amtrak), or to give the middle class a slightly larger tax break. Early indications, says the Post, are that Clinton will do a little of each.

If you're traveling between Portland and Seattle on Amtrak or anywhere in that region on any mode of transportation, check before you go because snow, sleet, and rain have severely curtailed most travel.

Amtrak has formed a Travel Agency Computer Reservations System Advisory Council. It has seven members and met in Washington for the first time a few weeks ago. The council talks to agents who use different computer reservations systems to find out what the agents would like to see when they call up Amtrak on their screens. Many agents say that Amtrak needs a more user-friendly system. One council member is NARP Director Carl Fowler of St. Albans, Vt.

The Environmental Protection Agency has scheduled public hearings for January 14-15 on its proposed updating of air quality standards for ozone and particulates, which could force public officials to take transit far more seriously than ever before, and which the highway lobby is gunning for, of course. The hearings will be in Salt Lake City at the Red Lion Hotel, in Chicago at the Midland Hotel, in Boston at Westin Copley Place, and in Durham, N.C., at the Omni Durham. In all four cities, a hearing will run January 14 from 10:30 am to 8:00 pm, and on January 15 from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. To sign up to testify, contact Linda Metcalf at the EPA at 919/541-2865 (fax 919/541-0804), or by e-mail.

Send written comments by February 18 to Carol Browner, Administrator, U.S. EPA, 401 M St., S.W., Washington, DC 20460; attention EPA Dockets A-95-54, A95-58, A96-51, and A95-38. Send copies to your legislators and to the Clean Air Network, 1200 New York Ave., N.W., Washington, DC 20005.