They were going to make cuts somewhere anyway, and it's less than they could have made (and in places you'd probably like even less, for that matter); besides, our nation's air traffic control system (which is run by the FAA, in case you may have forgotten) is still using quite a bit of outdated hardware and software (or earlier) and still needs to be fully upgraded.

Of course, that doesn't mean the $137 million will be used for modernization or any other useful purpose, any more than we know that the $64 million taken from Amtrak would've been used for taking much-needed equipment off of the deadline or RIP track and restoring it to service, or for service improvements of any sort, or even to maintain existing service levels. We are talking about Washington, after all, and we all know just how good folks inside the Beltway are at using somebody else's money for "more important purposes" than what it was originally intended for (just look at the so-called "Social Security Trust Fund")...