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Well, I am trying to be as optomistic as I can , but I am afraid Amtrak's demise may avail itself sooner rather than later. What a travesty !
To be honest, I have written the White House and Congress until I am "blue in the face !" What bothers me is not the effort I have put forth, but the fact that I really am certain my letters get "trashed" anyhow---by some incompetent staffer who could care less about the letter's content. Honestly, I have YET to hear back directly from anyone I have contacted related to Amtrak. This "hints" to me that my many letters did not end up where they were intended in the first place----on the desks of the individuals I wrote to in the first place.
Perhaps this "turn of events" is simply what it took to bring the Amtrak issue to the fore-front. Shut the whole system down----included the precious NEC---and let the chips fall where they may.
To be honest, I give David Gunn a great deal of credit, although I understand he is by no means perfect. By far, his position is the toughest railroad has to offer. I really can not understand why any sane person would want the job in the first place.
I was somewhat encouraged by the $1.2 billion offer for fiscal 2005. I though perhaps the "corner" had been turned and that Congress was finally starting to realize that changes WERE being made at Amtrak, AND that Congress was starting to realize just how much money is required to operate the NEC by itself, let alone a national system. But I guess I was totally wrong. Thirty-some odd senators, and perhaps a hundred representatives (if that) simply is not nearly enough to get anything really accomplished----forget about the governors, I honestly do not think they have any bearing on the issue at all.
Anyhow, to my question:
I want to ride as much as I possibly can before the "melt-down ?" Just how long can we expect Amtrak to maintain the present service system until it must cease operations ? I am presuming Amtrak has enough operational funds to last at least until the end of fiscal year 2005. But when exactly IS this ?
As always I will await all of your interesting and insightful thoughts.
TheBriz09 Member # 3166
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I am pretty sure that Amtrak's new fiscal year starts in October. So I think the end of FY05 is September 30, 2005. Don't quote me on that, though.
notelvis Member # 3071
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September 30th is the end of FY 2005.
Concentrate on the long-distance trains. I attended Norm Mineta's Media Event in Charlotte, NC today.
The new '50-50 plan' seems designed to pit the 12 or so states that have invested in passenger rail against the 38 which have not. North Carolina, for instance, would gain a significant amount of new federal transportation dollars to run trains and build stations........great for Charlotte but not alot for Denver.
clevelandbrown Member # 3654
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You are correct that letters to officeholders almost never reach the addressee. The President, cabinet officers, Senators and Congressmen receive thousands of letters daily, and it would be pretty naive to think that they read them all.
Low level staffers read them, quickly, and keep a record of the sentiment (i.e., pro-Amtrak, anti-Amtrak, etc), usually prepare a prewritten response, run the response through the signature machine, and you end up with the impression that your letter counted. Very, very rarely will a staffer pass a letter up to the addressee, and then its usually because it can be used to garner some favorable publicity for the officeholder.
Since they keep score, two "duh, shut down da trayns" letters will outweigh one very carefully reasoned exposition of why Amtrak should be funded.
Years ago the federal fiscal year ran from July 1 to June 30, but Congress could never get the appropriations bills passed on time, so they cleverly changed the fiscal year to run from October 1 to September 30! Despite this change, they still couldn't get the appropriations bills passed on time, so every fiscal year starts with each agency authorized to continue working in the new fiscal year at the same level as had been authorized for the last fiscal year, although sometimes even this is late and the agencies have to virtually shut down for a few days. So it is not certain when the fiscal year really ends; it just sort of limps along until a new one is started with an authorization bill. If you think this scheme is goofy, you are right, but its the best congress could do. And they wonder why so few of us vote.
Gilbert B Norman Member # 1541
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Like it or not, Mr. Brown correctly identified a trait of human nature.
As he noted, the FY formerly ended June 30, and was extended so that the 'Omnibus' appropriations would be enacted within the same FY to which they apply.
But human nature being such, some appropriations are not enacted until after 'the month of anarchy', or August, when "no one who is anyone' dares be seen in Washington.
Once upon a time (at least within my memory), the due date for an Individual Tax Return was March 15. The one month 'setback' simply gave the procrastinators (i.e. MOSTUVUZ) one more month to 'stew' over it.
Same is true even in the Not-for-Profit community. One year, United Way chose to give their Member Agencies (i.e. those agencies they fund)a one month extension, ostensibly to relieve their staffs from having to burn midnight oil. Well, guess when the staffs (I was a paid consultant) burned the oil - one month later; and that was conflicting with "tax season' for me.
Meanwhile back to point, early in its Session, Congress will pass and the President will sign a Continuing Resolution (save the Bill-Newt "war" 10 years ago)providing that all programs will be funded at existing levels until enactment of the appropriations measure. In short, inactivity within the Legislative process will not kill Amtrak.
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