House Republicans vote to cut Amtrak funding one day after crash

[SummerSnow]

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/democrats-and-republicans-debate-amtrak-cuts-day-after-crash

By Benjy Sarlin

The deadly derailment of an Amtrak train Tuesday hovered over an ongoing infrastructure debate the next day on Capitol Hill, where a bill to slash rail subsidies came under fire from Democrats who cited the disaster in opposing the cuts, while Republicans bristled at efforts to link the incident to Amtrak spending. The measure passed along partisan lines after the House committee repeatedly voted down Democratic amendments aimed at boosting funding for Amtrak.

At a previously scheduled House Appropriations markup of a Transportation, Housing and Urban Development funding bill, Democratic members demanded more spending for capital investments in rail service and for agencies that oversee safety. The bill, which covers a variety of infrastructure and housing agencies and programs, would cut Amtrak funding to $1.13 billion from $1.4 billion.

After Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) told the committee that Congress had “failed to invest in their safety,” an irate Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) accused him of exploiting the incident.
“You tied it directly to an accident and a tragedy and suggested because we hadn’t funded it that caused that accident and you have no idea what caused it – and that’s a shame,” Simpson said.

Rep. Jose Serrano (D-NY), who noted that he’s ridden Amtrak exclusively to his Bronx district over his 25 years in the House, said that Congress should be open to the possibility that inadequate funding had contributed to the crash.

“We cut their budgets, we reduced their spending,” he said. “Maybe last night, while not mixing one tragedy with our local or in-House politics, maybe last night is something we should look at to see what if any of that is caused by infrastructure deficiencies.”


*This is going to get really really ugly

[olddots]

1. the repukian mantra is

Hey whats in it for me ?

[Johonny]

2. because no matter what the cause of the accident

less funding is pretty much a guarantee not to fix it.