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Looks like the Bush lackeys in control of Amtrak's board are doing what their irrational masters want.... working to force Amtrak into bankruptcy.
Here is a report from the Friends of Amtrak list. The message is not available online to non-list members. And it isn't on the group's homepage yet.
The following is a report from me regarding a most troubling new development with Amtrak funding.
Regards, Craig O'Connell
AMTRAK BOARD FAILS TO SEND BUDGET REQUEST - February 20, 2005
In an alarming new development, Amtrak's Board of Directors has failed to meet a crucial February 15th deadline for filing a budgetary request to Congress for FY 2006. This is a most troubling development that raises serious questions about the Board's true intent. At this point what we have on record is a rather vague and ambivalent four page letter from the Board that was sent up to Congress on February 17, along with an attachment from CEO David Gunn, a more positive and upbeat assessment. In the letter the Board expressed a possible intent to yet file a budgetary request for FY 06 while seemingly warming up to the President's attempts to bankrupt the railroad. For the text of the Board's four page letter and full report go to http://www.amtrak.com, click on "Inside Amtrak," then "Other Reports," then "Annual Report to Congress, February 17, 2005". This is a PDF. It is also available on the Friends of Amtrak Yahoo page.
Interestingly enough, the Amtrak Board is now comprised of only four voting members, all Bush appointees. It includes its Chairman David M. Laney, a Dallas lawyer, lobbyist and former chairman of the Texas Transportation Commission, appointed by then Governor Bush, and a Bush campaign contributor and major fundraiser; Floyd Hall, (a Bush recess appointee) retired chairman of KMart now residing in Montclair, NJ; Enrique Sosa, a retired oil industry executive from Miami, Florida who at confirmation hearings confessed to have no knowledge of ground transportation matters and had never even been on an Amtrak train (Washington Post, June 6, 2004); and, as ex officio, Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, no friend of Amtrak. Presently none of the four Board members nor Mr. Gunn have responded to press inquiries.
This most recent developments are raising alarm among Amtrak supporters throughout the country. On February 16, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the ranking Democrat on the Senate's Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee, fired off a letter to Secretary Mineta demanding that he explain how the needs of over 25 million Amtrak riders nationwide will be protected once the railroad is run by a bankruptcy trustee. In the letter Senator Murray writes, "Ceding control of the national railroad to a bankruptcy trustee is both reckless and irresponsible. This plan will put at grave risk the travel options of every Amtrak rider, not just those riding the worst performing lines...” John Robert Smith, a former Republican Amtrak board member and chairman, said discussing bankruptcy "can be a self-fulfilling prophecy." "It gets you an unclean audit, and bad credit, and it makes your suppliers and your lenders extremely nervous," said Mr. Smith, who is the mayor of Meridian, Mississippi. (NY Times, Feb. 20, 2005) "They're committing corporate suicide, and they ought to be sued for doing it," said Ross Capon, the president of the National Association of Rail Passengers (NARP).
Meanwhile, on February 10, 35 Senators sent a letter to Congress expressing "deep concern" about the Bush administration's plan to eliminate financing, saying, "Amtrak has made real progress reforming itself over the last few years."
The 35 signatories to the pro-Amtrak letter are listed below:
35 U.S. SENATORS WHO SIGNED FEB. 10, 2005 LETTER SUPPORTING AMTRAK:
Please note that this letter is addressed to Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Kent Conrad (D-ND) and as recipients of the letter they cannot sign it. Also note that in some cases logistical problems and the urgency in getting this letter out quickly may be a reason why a Senator hadn't signed it.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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I'm still trying to decipher all of this. I'm not convinced the board is trying to bankrupt Amtrak. In the letter David Laney did state that bankruptcy would ultimately be counterproductive: "Status quo at Amtrak is neither viable nor acceptable. To effect needed reforms at Amtrak, however, 'zero' is not the right number at this juncture."
He goes on....
"Virtually all have recognized that passenger rail presents the promise of an alternate mode of transportation as well as added capacity for national transportation networks, particularly in our most congested regions. But the promise of passenger rail can only begin to be realized if it is more effectively structured, more efficiently operated, and adequately funded over a longer term than year-to-year."
This doesn't sound like the end of the world to me. It sounds like what we've all been saying for years.
On the threat of bankruptcy he notes: "...it is abundantly clear to Amtrak's Board and management that without adequate funding Amtrak operations and investments will have to be curtailed or eliminated in FY06. There could be no greater impetus for reform."
Taken by itself, that sounds ominous. But then he explains how that will really only make matters worse:
"However, the threat of insolvency or bankruptcy can undermine the stability of any business; in Amtrak's case, the disruption of the financial and operating stability Amtrak has achieved over the last two years could stop our reform effort in its tracks. Although bankruptcy might prove a reform strategy of last resort, at this point in the reform process it is precipitous and counterproductive."
Are those the words of someone supporting Bush's budget? I think not.
I do have one concern, in that he mentions some costs would be associated with route elimination. It is not clear what he means by that, whether it would be precipitated by bankruptcy itself, or through a "reform" process. Thus I see cause for concern, but not cause for alarm.
Mr. Toy Member # 311
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An addendum to my above post. This week's Destination Freedom newsletter from National Corridors Initiative seems to concur with my reading of the Laney letter as mostly positive. http://www.nationalcorridors.org/df/df02212005.shtml
The newsletter, however, is not so kind to Norman Mineta.
Pojon Member # 3080
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What ever, Bush and his co-horts are doing their best to push Amtrak into bankruptcy completely disregarding 25 million riders, 1000's of loyal employees and the fact that we need some self-respect in the world which is now lacking because of our always threatened and inadequate and mostly broken excuse for a national passenger rail system as compared to Japan, France, Germany, Spain and other countries. We have to hide our heads in shame with our system! Maybe the federal government OWES us a national and viable rail transportation system. How about loyalty to the 25 million passnegers last year that showed loyalty to Amtrak? Don't the PASSENGERS deserve that!?
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