Sgt. Joe Friday Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Let's not be so fast to hit the panic button - the
> politics on passenger trains aren't as clear cut
> as some would like to think.
>
> First of all, it was LBJ that put the last nail in
> the coffin of privately run rail passenger
> service, and he was no Republican. Nixon was the
> one who signed the bill creating Amtrak, and I
> don't have to tell you what party he belonged to.
>
> It was under Reagan that Amtrak hired Graham
> Claytor, and enjoyed some pretty good years. Bill
> Clinton presided over budget cuts that resulted in
> the elimination of the Desert Wind, just as Jimmy
> Carter went along with Amtrak budget cuts 20 years
> before that.

My comment was about Congress and you were commenting on presidents. However if you want to talk about presidents, I'll play along.

There are two responses on Nixon. Nixon also signed legislation creating the National Environmental Policy Act and favored a guaranteed minimum wage. He also supported general revenue sharing for states which was a predecessor to Obama's Stimulus Package. It is highly unlikely that Nixon would have won a GOP Presidential primary with his views in the 21st Century.

Some observers also believed that Nixon had very little interest in intercity passenger rail. They believe that Nixon signed the legislation creating Amtrak to relieve the private railroads of the burden of providing passenger train service and with the understanding that Amtrak would soon vanish.

Amtrak survived during the Reagan years in spite of, not because of Reagan. One year, Reagan proposed zero dollars for Amtrak. Although Reagan was fortunately unsuccessful in is efforts to eliminate Amtrak (thanks in part to Congressional Democrats and moderate Republicans), several trains were discontinued during his presidency such as the North Star, Black Hawk, Shenandoah, Prairie Marksman, Gulf Coast Limited and the Houston section of the Inter-American.

Much more happened to Amtrak during the Carter Administration than the discontinuance of several long-distance trains. New locomotives and passenger were ordered and the Heritage Fleet program of rebuilding old passenger cars started. The Northeast Corridor Improvement Program began (yes, the planning and engineering began prior to Carter's presidency, but he didn't cancel it like Republican Governors Walker, Kasich and Scott did for passenger rail projects in Wisconsin, Ohio and Florida.) Additionally, many railfans refuse to acknowledge the trains which were added to Amtrak's network during the Carter years. These include the Pioneer, Southern Crescent, Desert Wind, St. Clair and Hoosier State.

Consider Amtrak's Three Rivers. At the time it was discontinued during the Bush 2.0 Administration, Pennsylvania's Senators Santorum and Specter were among the most powerful in the Senate. Although both were supposedly pro-Amtrak, neither did anything to keep in running.

Anyone who doesn't think that Amtrak may be in serious trouble under the new Congress has his or her head in the sand. Nearly all moderate Republicans (who tended to be supportive of Amtrak) have been purged from the Senate by Tea Partiers and with the exception of a few such as Thad Cochran of Mississippi, there are almost no pro-Amtrak conservative Republicans left in the Senate.

for any of you who haven't received the memo, the Tea Party/GOP is committed to reducing spending on domestic programs. There is no asterix with an exception for Amtrak.