Hotline #989 - July 3, 1997

Congress has been on recess this week. However, final passage of the Amtrak half cent remains a priority. Two things still have to happen. First, when a conference committee meets to negotiate over differences in the House and Senate versions of the budget reconciliation bill, the Senate's Amtrak language must be retained. That makes it imperative to get more co-sponsors for the House half-cent bill, H.R.1437, to show conferees that there is growing support for Amtrak in the House.

Second, since the Senate budget bill says Amtrak reforms must be passed before the half cent can take effect, an Amtrak reauthorization bill must be passed this summer. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R.-Miss.) has expressed interest several times in passing the Senate's bill, S.738, soon. Bud Shuster (R.-Pa.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has said his similar bill of 1995 is still under consideration. He has not endorsed the radically different recommendations of the "Blue Ribbon" panel.

Shuster, however, wrote to budget conferees this week saying he would oppose the Amtrak half cent, if highways and transit did not get to spend the remaining 3.8 cents of fuel tax that now goes to deficit reduction. It's unclear what impact his letter will have.

There has been a complication in how to evaluate last week's Amtrak numbers in the 1998 transportation funding bill, as approved by the House Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. While the Amtrak total was higher than the President's request, there was a devastating cut on the operating side.

That's because the bill contains only $283 million for Amtrak operations and retirement and unemployment mandatory payments, combined. That is $61 million below the President's request, and $104 million below what Amtrak requested.

Amtrak and the President both requested $142 million for mandatory payments alone. However, before the June 24 mark-up, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, Franklin Raines, wrote to Subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R.-Va.), undercutting the President's request. This letter is a major reason why the subcommittee cut mandatory payments, which has the same effect as cutting operations, since that's where any shortfall in mandatory payments would have to be made up. At the mark-up, during discussion with Subcommittee Ranking Democrat Martin Olav Sabo (Minn.), Chairman Wolf appeared to leave the door open for future review of this crucial subject.

If the problem is not resolved, Wolf's numbers likely would lead to an Amtrak collapse even with passage of the half cent. Amtrak's managers don't even know how they will deal with the $43 million gap between the Clinton and Amtrak operating grant requests, much less an additional shortfall of $61 million. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, chaired by Richard Shelby (R.-Ala.) has scheduled its mark-up for July 15.

Transit did very well in the appropriations bill. It would get $4.8 billion, up from $4.4 billion this year.

NARP is printing a slightly updated version of the leaflet that many NARP members have been distributing this spring and summer. It still has the four little maps on the left side, but it also reflects the fact that the Senate has passed the half-cent. Please let us know if you would like a sample of the leaflet, or even a quantity of them.

The IC-3 Flexliner ran on several trips this week in Minnesota, stopping at St. Cloud, Anoka, Minneapolis, St. Paul, and Hastings.

The historic and famous Oyster Bar restaurant in the basement of Grand Central Terminal in New York was gutted by fire June 29. The terminal itself is undergoing a wide-ranging renovation.