Gas prices are permanently hovering in the $4 range and Amtrak ridership is way up. So naturally the Republicans are trying to kill Amtrak with a 60 percent budget cut.
A House appropriations subcommittee passed a bill [in September] that provides Amtrak with $227 million for operations in 2012, down from $563 million in each of the past two years. Amtrak also would get $899 million for capital expenditures, down $25 million.
And this will totally make us more competitive with other nations like China that have far surpassed our transportation infrastructure.