The backing of the Ariz. Republican will likely help Amtrak secure a loan. As collateral for the loan, Amtrak plans to use the $1.2 billion federal subsidy it is seeking for the fiscal year that begins October 1.
With McCain signaling his support, lenders may easily concude that Congress ultimately will back the railroad's request to double its annual subsidy to $1.2 billion from $521 million. A $1.9 billion measure, which includes funding for tunnel safety and security improvements on the Northeast Corridor, is working its way through the House.
McCain said he would ask the Commerce Committee to hold a hearing on what can be done to avoid a shutdown of Amtrak.
"Clearly, a shut-down of Amtrak's operations along the Northeast Corridor, in California, and in certain other locations, would be highly disruptive," McCain wrote in a letter, responding to one from Amtrak Predident and CEO David Gunn. (To read the full text of McCain's letter, see.)
But McCain said he still believes that most of Amtrak's routes are run for political reasons and ought to be dropped or supported by the states.
Nonetheless, Gunn was able to accomplish in three weeks on the job what no one at Amtrak has ever been able to do: Soften McCain's hard-line stancetoward the railroad.
Gunn had told McCain that while Congress should never hjave demanded that Amtrak try to become operationally self-sufficient, Amtrak management never should have agreed to try.
quote:
But McCain said he still believes that most of Amtrak's routes are run for political reasons and ought to be dropped or supported by the states.
Would McCain care to spell out exactly what those "political reasons" are? I can think of two possibilities, neither of which hold up to much scrutiny.
1. To get votes for the Congressmen whose districts are served by the trains. If Amtrak service to a particular congressional district or state can make or break an election, then their constituents must see some value in the service. A congressman supporting the train is therefore only reflecting the will of his/her constituents. That is politics in its purest form.
2. Amtrak keeps the routes alive to gain broad-based political support for the NEC. But if taxpayers from Maine to Hawaii are expected to pay for Amtrak in the NEC, which serves only half of the original 13 colonies, certainly the other 43 states should get some kind of service for their tax dollars as well.
P.S. Trainsandmore, thanks for your unending efforts to bring these news tidbits to our attention.
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Trust God, love your neighbor, and never mistake opinion for truth.
-Mr. Toy
[This message has been edited by Mr. Toy (edited 06-14-2002).]