2006 post by A.S. Perger:
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www.altamontpress.com]
I can't do the math, but the highway appropriation is about $200+ billion a year, population of the country is 300 million, so the per capita subsidy for federal roads (not county, city, or state) is about $66.67. Amtrak's budget is $1.2 billion, so its per capita subsidy is $4.
The Defense Department spends $1 billion a day which is "too little" to protect us, but the $1.2 billion a YEAR for Amtrak is what's upsetting the entire Federal budget.
Someone told me once (in jest I hope), that the Federal gov't spends more money on picking up road kill than it does on Amtrak.