From the Office of Senator Kerry

Wednesday, July 30, 2003

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator John Kerry today blasted a new Bush Administration proposal to eliminate the federal commitment to Amtrak and push half the cost of operating the nation’s passenger rail service to already cash-strapped state governments.

“George W. Bush is the architect of the failed economic policy that is leaving states all over the country teetering on the brink of bankruptcy,” said Kerry. “This ill-conceived proposal to force state governments to pick up half the cost of operating Amtrak – currently funded by the federal government – will push them over that brink and take the nation’s passenger rail system with it.”

At issue is a new Bush Administration proposal that would scrap direct federal funding of Amtrak and turn over much of the responsibility for operating the system to state governments. Under the Administration’s proposal, the billions of dollars in federal subsidies that have kept Amtrak operating for decades would be replaced by 50-50 matching grants to states. The President’s proposal would slash Amtrak’s budget, eliminate several long-distance routes, break apart the Northeast Corridor as it exists today, and create three new companies to run the system.

Twenty-three million Americans traveled on Amtrak last year. Hundreds of thousands of people in the Northeast depend on Amtrak as a transit alternative to planes and automobiles. For instance, Amtrak’s Downeaster – which runs from Boston to Portland, Maine, and services three major cities in New Hampshire – has become an integral part of the region’s transportation system. Under the Bush plan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine would have to pay for half the cost of maintaining the service and draw up a new multi-state compact to administer it.

“This is an ill-conceived proposal that will create new bureaucracies, increase inefficiencies, and shift the cost of national rail service to the states,” said Kerry. “As with the rest of his domestic agenda, this plan put forth by George W. Bush eliminates the national commitment to a program that benefits working families while shifting the cost and the responsibility to those who are unable to bear the burden: states and, ultimately, taxpayers.”

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