Your weekly source of fresh takes on news affecting America's passengers. See also the NARP Blog.
February 28, 1992
The Senate confirmed the nomination of Andrew Card as Secretary of Transportation on February 21. NARP testified on Amtrak reauthorization on February 26 before the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Transportation. Senator Nickles (R.-Okla.) said he had assurances from Amtrak President Graham Claytor for a tri-weekly Lone Star by the end of 1993, though Amtrak says it would have to be a 403(b) trai...
February 21, 1992
The House Energy and Commerce transportation subcommittee held a hearing yesterday on H.R.4250, the two-year Amtrak reauthorization bill. Subcommittee Chairman Al Swift (D.-Wash.) is the author of the bill, authorizing $969 million for Amtrak and the Northeast Corridor in 1993 and $921 million in 1994. Besides the reauthorization bill, Swift plans to introduce next week a bill to create a passeng...
February 14, 1992
Some good ideas are catching on! Push them with your own legislators! House Ways and Means Democrats tentatively agreed in private session on a tax package that includes the one good item in Bush's transportation budget proposal -- raising the ceiling on tax-free employer-provided transit benefits from $21 to $60 a month. Bush did not say how he would pay for this, but Committee Democrats propose...
February 7, 1992
The nomination of Andrew Card as Secretary of Transportation was the topic of a confirmation hearing this morning in the Senate Commerce Committee. Six Senators discussed Amtrak, three of them mentioning Amtrak at the start of their remarks. Card of course defended the Bush budget, but then said, "The deficit forces very difficult decisions. I think Amtrak is a viable form of transportation in Ame...
January 31, 1992
The Bush Administration released its proposed 1993 budget on January 29. It was painted as a budget to "protect the environment and enhance the quality of life," but fails in that respect by giving big increases to highways and aviation, and big cuts to rail and transit. Amtrak would get only $343 million, compared to $651 million this year. That's even less than what the Administration proposed...