Hotline #280-A - February 3, 2003

President Bush today requested $900 million for Amtrak in fiscal 2004. While that is significantly higher than the Administration's 2003 request of $521 million, it is also significantly below what Amtrak will request for 2004 (about $1.8 billion), below what the Senate approved for 2003 ($1.2 billion, which we hope conferees will approve soon), and below the pro-rated amount Amtrak has been getting in continuing resolutions for 2003 ($1.039 billion).

The budget statement features a flawed analysis that concludes that Amtrak would be better off without long-distance trains. The statement overstates the financial "benefit" of getting rid of such trains by ignoring labor protection costs (that last long after the year in which a service is cut) and ignoring the many costs and revenues shared among trains. The Administration has embraced the fallacy that "subsidy per passenger" is a valid measure of a train's economic performance or viability.

See our release from today for more information.