3 of 3

Yes

Write now Article Tools

The United States Senate passed a bill today approving eleven billion dollars in funding for the Amtrak transportation program. This is a move that has come under quite a bit of scrutiny given Amtrak's recent financial troubles and allegations/scandals as far as cooking the books under their previous CEO David Gunn. Gunn has denied any wrong doing and to this point has not been found of any wrongdoing. Of course several senators made the case that we can't afford to be subsidizing something like Amtrak in this time of skyrocketing deficits. Several Senators mentioned how much of the food that is paid for by the taxpayers goes to waste and so forth. Gunn is still supportive of public transportation and says rail can help us move away from our dependence upon foreign oil along with the fact that rail can open up more markets for foreign according to the American Daily.

Amtrak is a program in which President Bush seems to want to phase out and move it completely away from government subsidies. Because of David Gunn's good relationship with employees and other executives in the company it is believed that Gunn may have become a political casualty due to his opposition to the President's proposed budget cuts. In fact last year when the President said he opposed further funding of Amtrak he even drew criticism from some in his own party such as former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum. According to Santorum his constituents use Amtrak and other forms of public transportation quite faithfully. The final vote on approving the bill was seventy Senators in favor and twenty two in dissent. Eight Senators did not vote including all the presidential candidates such as Biden, Clinton, Dodd, Obama and McCain.

All of the amendments which were meant to curtail spending or at least increase some oversight of the program were defeated. This would include an amendment by South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint to make sure that Amtrak reports every government subsidy on every ticket they sell to let taxpayers know how self-sufficient the program still is. The amendment failed by a vote of 27-65 with all twenty votes coming from the Republican side of the aisle. Another amendment that failed was one that was offered by New Hampshire Senator John Sununu to increase the number of Amtrak routes that could be up for government bid. This means no government favoritism in contract awarding for transportation. The amendment failed by the same total as the DeMint amendment. This bill will no doubt set up another showdown between the Democratic Congress and the President's veto pen.

Learn more about this author, Tyler Mills.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Should the US bar companies that have broken the law from government contracts??
We want to hear your view. Write now!