Uncovering Waste, Fraud & Abuse at Amtrak

In the 112th Congress, the Committee is conducting vigorous oversight of Amtrak, which has a history of mismanagement and wasting taxpayers’ money. In recent years, the passenger rail service has been found to have improperly removed its Inspector General, spent millions on outside legal services without proper management or oversight, mismanaged the acquisition process for the Acela train, and poorly managed its food and beverage service.

On August 2, 2012, the Committee held a hearing on the staggering losses over the years in Amtrak's food and beverage service: over $833 million in the last decade.  At the hearing, it was revealed that Amtrak has to spend $1.70 to bring in just one dollar of revenue in its food and beverage operations.  Click here for more information.

Next, the Committee will examine the high cost to taxpayers of Amtrak’s monopoly mentality in commuter rail competitions.  This hearing will be held on September 11, 2012.

In general, Amtrak receives annual federal funding in excess of $1.5 billion, and each ticket sold is subsidized by an average of $49.19. It is an important responsibility of the Committee to cut waste at Amtrak, and over the years Committee Republicans have helped highlight the need for Amtrak reform.

For example, on September 23, 2010, then-Ranking Member Mica joined then-Ranking Member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa and Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Charles Grassley in requesting an independent Department of Transportation Inspector General investigation into the removal of Amtrak's former Inspector General Fred Weiderhold. 

A report prepared by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Finance Committee found that Amtrak officials interfered with the independence of the inspector general's office, and removed Mr. Weiderhold from his post in violation of the law.  Mica, Issa and Grassley state in their letter their belief that the report's findings were sufficient to warrant the dismissal of Amtrak's Chairman and General Counsel, and requested that the DOT IG conduct an investigation in order to confirm the violations. (Washington Times article: Lawmakers Seek Investigation of Amtrak Executives)

Unfortunately, the issue of the Inspector General's removal is not an isolated incident at Amtrak.

A previous investigation by the Amtrak IG and an expert legal analyst, initiated by Rep. Mica, revealed that the rail service doled out millions for outside legal services with no effective management or oversight.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has testified before Congress about the bungled acquisition process for the Acela train.

As the Committee focuses its efforts on transportation reauthorization, it will ensure stronger accountability and reform at Amtrak to help stem the financial hemorrhaging and save a substantial amount of the taxpayers’ money.