Hotline #990 - July 11, 1997

House conferees on the Amtrak portion of the budget reconciliation bill were named yesterday. It is important that they go along with the Senate version, which contains the Amtrak half-cent language, rather than the House version, which does not. The Republican conferees are Archer (Tex.), Armey (Tex.), DeLay (Tex.), Crane (Ill.), Thomas (Cal.), Kasich (Ohio), Shuster (Pa.), Molinari (N.Y.). The Democratic conferees are Rangel (N.Y.), Matsui (Cal.), McDermott (Wash.), Bonior (Mich.), Oberstar (Minn.). There is little time left to contract them because the Senate leadership wants the conference to finish its work by July 18. The House half-cent bill, H.R.1437, now has 68 co-sponsors, plus a couple more who have committed to co-sponsoring.

The full House Appropriations Committee, chaired by Bob Livingston (R.-La.) approved the 1998 transportation funding bill this morning. It had been approved by the Transportation Subcommittee on June 24. There were no changes to the Amtrak numbers, including the particularly damaging figure for excess mandatory retirement and unemployment costs. The Transportation Subcommittee, chaired by Frank Wolf (R.-Va.), had arbitrarily cut mandatory payments to from $142 million to $82 million. If that $60 million is not restored somehow, Amtrak is legally obligated to pay it out of their operating grant. In that case, even though the Wolf subcommittee gave Amtrak $201 million, subtracting the mandatory payments shortfall would in effect leave only $141 million for operations. That's $104 million less than Amtrak requested, and a gap that size would sink the whole national system, no matter what happens with the half cent.

The Wolf subcommittee made this change based on a selective reading of a letter to Railroads Subcommittee Chairman Susan Molinari (R.-N.Y.) from the Office of Management and Budget. The letter said that one way to define excess mandatory payments results in the $82 million approved by Wolf, but that the Administration still supports its original request for $142 million. Everyone agrees that Amtrak must pay the $142 million, but Wolf did not add $60 million to operations when he knocked it out of mandatory payments.

The Senate Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, chaired by Richard Shelby (R.-Ala.), will take up the 1998 funding bill on July 15.

Shelby was one of 21 Senators to vote against Amtrak on June 27, so he seems unlikely to help Amtrak unless other Senators make clear to him how important Amtrak is to them. Please ask your pro-Amtrak Senators to speak to him promptly about their strong support of Amtrak. Arlen Specter (R.-Pa.) is particularly well placed to help since he is a member of the subcommittee and third-ranking Republican on the full committee.

The Passenger Rail Program in Oregon got an 11th-hour reprieve last weekend, meaning that the Cascade train is still running south from Portland to Eugene, as well as the associated Thruway bus services. Train service was supposed to end July 8, when state funding was to run out.

A northbound CSX freight train carrying truck trailers tipped over and derailed the evening of July 8 in Crystal City, Va., just south of the Potomac River Bridge. It struck southbound Amtrak train 93, which was headed for Richmond, causing the last two cars to detach from the rest of the train, but not derailing any of it. Three Amtrak employees had minor injuries.

The rear cars of the northbound Texas Eagle derailed at Little Rock early this morning. The front part of the train proceeded to Chicago after a delay. There was one minor crew injury.

The New York Times reported today that city, state, and federal officials have finally agreed on how to proceed on the Penn Station/Farley project in Manhattan, and that platform work will begin soon.