From NARP Bulletin: "Congress will be eliminating all high-speed rail investment from the 2011 budget, and will actually take back $400 million in FY2010 high-speed money.  That adds up to a total of $2.9 billion in cuts to the popular program.  The hits don’t stop there—Congress will chop $128 million from Amtrak’s budget for capital improvements and debt service, and $502 million from New Starts transit funding (as compared to last year’s budget).

This is a big setback for the American public, who stood to benefit greatly from this investment in modernized train service. The high-speed rail program had found itself caught-up in political gamesmanship, culminating in the newly-elected governor of Florida rejecting high-speed rail money. However, last week 24 states (along with the District of Columbia and Amtrak) submitted 98 passenger train projects totaling almost $10 billion. That’s half of the United States, representing a vast majority of its population. Applicants included 12 Republican governors—including Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who had previously turned down high-speed rail funds—signaling a truly bipartisan enthusiasm for this important, jobs-creating program. The public is also eager for more trains, having driven Amtrak to a 17th straight month of growth in ridership and putting the passenger carrier on track for yet another annual ridership record.

We cannot let this setback dissuade us from fighting for what we know to be right.

The budget battle for 2012 begins now. By pushing for adoption of the President’s 6 year, $53 billion plan for high- and higher-speed intercity trains, we can remove the year-to-year budgetary seesaw that has hindered Amtrak’s growth for so many decades. If America is going to deal with steadily-rising gas prices, a stagnant manufacturing and construction industry, and a rapidly growing population, we will need to invest in passenger trains.

Thank you for your continued work in this important struggle. Together we can bring about a modern train network that provides a travel choice Americans want.

Sean Jeans-Gail
Vice President
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