Hotline #994 - August 8, 1997

Though President Clinton signed the tax and budget bills earlier this week, he still has a few days to use his line-item veto powers on individual items. There was one wire story last night from the Associated Press that got repeated by several newspapers and radio stations, saying that Clinton was considering vetoing Amtrak. However, a second AP wire story went out this noon quoting White House officials directly. They said Clinton does not oppose the $2.3 billion in Amtrak capital.

The ISTEA reauthorization process has been pretty much stalled all summer long. That was still the case in the Senate, leading into the summer recess that began August 2.

But there was a little movement in the House last week. House Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman Bud Shuster (R.-Pa.) and other Committee leaders met and agreed to a general outline for a House bill. It would be a three-year bill, but drawing down all of the five years' worth of budget authority contained in the budget agreement. It reportedly would retain ISTEA's basic structure.

Committee leaders have left staffers with instructions for drafting a bill, which should be ready for general review by the last week of August. Shuster hopes to have a subcommittee mark-up the second week of September, and a full committee mark-up in the third week.

That doesn't leave much time for final enactment in the House -- much less in the Senate -- by ISTEA's September 30 expiration. However, there was a similar gap back in 1991, when ISTEA legislation was not signed by President Bush until December 18 of that year.

Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee need to be told during recess to give states the power to spend some federal transportation money on intercity passenger rail.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee member Jay Kim (R.) from Orange County, Cal., has pleaded guilty to misdemeanor violations of campaign finance. Kim was thought to want the chairmanship of the Railroads Subcommittee, replacing Susan Molinari (N.Y.), who has resigned. Some viewed that with apprehension, since Kim has often said he had no use for Amtrak, and that magnet trains and supposedly private-sector highways could do it all. A misdemeanor is not enough to keep Kim from being Railroads Chairman, but the Journal of Commerce also has said Kim has said he would not necessarily be guided by party leadership on issues the Subcommittee would face. That could keep him out of the job. The paper also reported that Bob Franks (N.J.) and Jack Quinn (N.Y.) are interested in the job.

The Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes has rejected arbitration for its contract talks with Amtrak, and so on August 5, the National Labor Mediation Board suspended its mediations between the two parties. This starts a 30-day cooling-off period. Starting September 5, the workers could strike or Amtrak could impose new work rules, or the President could appoint a Presidential Emergency Board to study the dispute for another 30 days.

Amtrak is warning passengers using Union Station in Los Angeles that several adjacent streets will be closed on and off during the period from August 25 through September 4, because of a downtown car race that will be held.

The Southwest Chief will begin service to Mendota, Ill., tomorrow, with a ceremony marking the renovation of the station and the Mendota Sweet Corn Festival.

Canadian National announced it will sell the line used by VIA Rail's Ocean between Mont-Joli, Quebec, and Moncton, New Brunswick. CN will retain the shorter line through Edmundston, which has no passenger service.