From the archives Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 2006 post by A.S. Perger:
> [www.altamontpress.com]
> ,18,18#msg-18
>
> 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.

CNN used an X tweet as a source:


"The DOGE chief said Wednesday at a Morgan Stanley tech conference, “Logically, we should prioritize anything that can reasonably be privatized... We should privatize the post office and Amtrak,” according to CNN."

...which links to this X tweet:

Hadas Gold
@Hadas_Gold
"logically we should prioritize anything that can reasonably be privatized.... we should privatize the post office and amtrak"
7:18 AM · Mar 5, 2025
158 Views
Read 46 replies


I am suprised they didn't use Wikipedia as their "source".

It is fun to vandalize wiki!

WAYBAC MACHINE TIME:

Clinton Would End Amtrak Subsidies, Senators Complain

By David Stout
Jan. 16, 1998

The Clinton Administration has tentatively decided to cut off all operating subsidies for Amtrak in the next Federal budget, a move that would threaten the future of the passenger-railroad network, six Senators said today.

In an angry letter, the Senators, all from the Northeast, accused President Clinton of backtracking on his pledges of support for the system. Amtrak is getting $344 million in operating subsidies in the current fiscal year and had sought $376 million in the one that begins on Oct. 1.

The Senators said the Administration's proposal, if enacted, would leave the struggling railroad network ''woefully short of money and unable to continue operating as planned'' and would undermine efforts ''to keep Amtrak from going bankrupt.''

Congress and the White House have already set a goal of having Amtrak run without operating subsidies by 2002.


But an Amtrak spokesman, R. Clifford Black 4th, said today that eliminating those subsidies now would lead to layoffs and service cuts.

The White House Office of Management and Budget declined today to comment on the contents of the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1. But an aide to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who wrote the letter, said the Senator was confident that he had reliable information.

It is far from clear how Amtrak will be treated in the next budget. The formal budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year will not be released for another few weeks, and it is routine for Administrations and lawmakers to float trial balloons. The budget that is adopted is often markedly different from the one first proposed.

''We'll get what Congress appropriates,'' Mr. Black said. ''The Administration proposes, and the Congress disposes.''

Nevertheless, Amtrak officials consider the budget issue so serious that the system's nine-member board will meet in Washington on Friday to discuss it, Mr. Black said.

Besides Mr. Lautenberg, the Senators signing the letter to the President were Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and John Kerry of Massachusetts, all Democrats, and William V. Roth Jr. of Delaware and John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, both Republicans.

The Senators come from a region where Amtrak is popular, and they are members of committees that could influence how much money Amtrak eventually gets, Mr. Black said.

An aide to Mr. Lautenberg said the Senator had heard that one idea being discussed in the Administration is the use of up to $300 million of the $2.3 billion that Congress authorized for Amtrak last fall for a two-year program of capital improvements, like new cars.


Mr. Lautenberg conveyed his dismay today to Franklin D. Raines, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Erskine B. Bowles, the President's chief of staff, the Senator's aide said.

Some observers who have followed Amtrak's troubles have said that using capital-improvements money to pay for current operating expenses would be like a homeowner taking money set aside for the mortgage and using it to buy food and gasoline.

The $344 million in the current budget for Amtrak's operating subsidies is somewhat misleading, Mr. Black said, since $142 million of that must go to pay pension benefits to retired railroad workers. Similarly, much of the $376 million Amtrak has sought for the next fiscal year would go to pension benefits.

Congress and the White House have set a goal that Amtrak be self-sufficient in operating funds (as distinct from capital improvements) by 2002, and the system's operating subsidies have decreased steadily from a high of more than $700 million a year two decades ago. Amtrak lost about $83 million in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Amtrak's high-speed Metroliner service between Washington and New York City is ''marginally profitable,'' Mr. Black said. Its Northeast Corridor service, which with its ancillary lines covers a region from Richmond to Boston and New York City to Buffalo, is very popular, although not profitable, he said.

Amtrak has been burdened by financial, political and labor troubles in recent months.

Last October, the workers who maintain tracks, bridges and electrical systems threatened to strike after contract talks that had dragged on for three years. In the end, the workers agreed to raises of 3 percent to 3.5 percent over five years.

In November, the Republican-controlled Congress agreed to the $2.3 billion in capital-improvements aid only after extracting a promise that the nine Amtrak board members, all appointed by President Clinton, be replaced by the President by March 31, after consultation with Congress.

And on Dec. 10, reportedly under pressure, Thomas M. Downs resigned as chairman, president and chief executive of Amtrak, saying that he was exhausted.

Amtrak officials have said the system could manage without operating subsidies if it could permanently keep a half-cent of the Federal gasoline tax for its capital budget.

A 1995 Senate bill that would have dedicated that portion of the gasoline tax to Amtrak was never enacted.

But an Amtrak spokesman, R. Clifford Black 4th, said today that eliminating those subsidies now would lead to layoffs and service cuts.

The White House Office of Management and Budget declined today to comment on the contents of the proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning on Oct. 1. But an aide to Senator Frank R. Lautenberg, the New Jersey Democrat who wrote the letter, said the Senator was confident that he had reliable information.

It is far from clear how Amtrak will be treated in the next budget. The formal budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year will not be released for another few weeks, and it is routine for Administrations and lawmakers to float trial balloons. The budget that is adopted is often markedly different from the one first proposed.

''We'll get what Congress appropriates,'' Mr. Black said. ''The Administration proposes, and the Congress disposes.''

Nevertheless, Amtrak officials consider the budget issue so serious that the system's nine-member board will meet in Washington on Friday to discuss it, Mr. Black said.

Besides Mr. Lautenberg, the Senators signing the letter to the President were Daniel Patrick Moynihan of New York, Joseph R. Biden Jr. of Delaware and John Kerry of Massachusetts, all Democrats, and William V. Roth Jr. of Delaware and John H. Chafee of Rhode Island, both Republicans.

The Senators come from a region where Amtrak is popular, and they are members of committees that could influence how much money Amtrak eventually gets, Mr. Black said.

An aide to Mr. Lautenberg said the Senator had heard that one idea being discussed in the Administration is the use of up to $300 million of the $2.3 billion that Congress authorized for Amtrak last fall for a two-year program of capital improvements, like new cars.


Mr.Lautenberg conveyed his dismay today to Franklin D. Raines, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Erskine B. Bowles, the President's chief of staff, the Senator's aide said.

Some observers who have followed Amtrak's troubles have said that using capital-improvements money to pay for current operating expenses would be like a homeowner taking money set aside for the mortgage and using it to buy food and gasoline.

The $344 million in the current budget for Amtrak's operating subsidies is somewhat misleading, Mr. Black said, since $142 million of that must go to pay pension benefits to retired railroad workers. Similarly, much of the $376 million Amtrak has sought for the next fiscal year would go to pension benefits.

Congress and the White House have set a goal that Amtrak be self-sufficient in operating funds (as distinct from capital improvements) by 2002, and the system's operating subsidies have decreased steadily from a high of more than $700 million a year two decades ago. Amtrak lost about $83 million in the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30.

Amtrak's high-speed Metroliner service between Washington and New York City is ''marginally profitable,'' Mr. Black said. Its Northeast Corridor service, which with its ancillary lines covers a region from Richmond to Boston and New York City to Buffalo, is very popular, although not profitable, he said.

Amtrak has been burdened by financial, political and labor troubles in recent months.

Last October, the workers who maintain tracks, bridges and electrical systems threatened to strike after contract talks that had dragged on for three years. In the end, the workers agreed to raises of 3 percent to 3.5 percent over five years.

In November, the Republican-controlled Congress agreed to the $2.3 billion in capital-improvements aid only after extracting a promise that the nine Amtrak board members, all appointed by President Clinton, be replaced by the President by March 31, after consultation with Congress.

And on Dec. 10, reportedly under pressure, Thomas M. Downs resigned as chairman, president and chief executive of Amtrak, saying that he was exhausted.

Amtrak officials have said the system could manage without operating subsidies if it could permanently keep a half-cent of the Federal gasoline tax for its capital budget.

A 1995 Senate bill that would have dedicated that portion of the gasoline tax to Amtrak was never enacted.

Amtrak officials have said the system could manage without operating subsidies if it could permanently keep a half-cent of the Federal gasoline tax for its capital budget.

A 1995 Senate bill that would have dedicated that portion of the gasoline tax to Amtrak was never enacted.