Hotline #2-A - October 8, 1997

The conferees to H.R.2169, the 1998 transportation appropriations bill, have finished their work. Both the House and Senate are expected to approve the bill by the end of the week.

For Amtrak, the numbers for operations are relatively good. The operating grant is $202 million, which is $43 million below the Amtrak request, the same as the Administration request, and $1 million more than in the House and Senate bills. The conferees also provided the full $142 million for mandatory retirement payments. However, they also included puzzling language that may place a limit of $81 million on what can be used for the retirement payments.

In the area of capital, there is $199 million for the general system -- the House bill had $260 million and the Senate zero. For the Northeast Corridor Improvement Project, there is $250 million -- the same as in the House bill, and a half-million more than the Senate bill.

However, there is language specifying that if Amtrak gets the $2.3 billion in capital from the budget agreement, the capital money provided in this appropriations bill would be deducted from it. In contrast, this year's budget resolution assumed the $2.3 billion would be in addition to regular appropriations.

All NARP members who worked on the critical mandatory payments issue are to be thanked for their successful efforts.