[Congressional Record: June 20, 2002 (Senate)]
[Page S5822-S5823]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:cr20jn02-133]                         



 
                                 AMTRAK

  Mr. DOGRAN. Mr. President, my colleague from Illinois, Senator 
Durbin, a moment ago spoke of the dilemma now faced by Amtrak, the 
company that provides rail passenger service.
  The Secretary of Transportation earlier today provided a glimpse into 
his and the administration's view of what to do about Amtrak. It is 
clearly devastating, if you believe that we ought to have rail 
passenger service.
  I confess, I like trains. I grew up in a small town where a train 
called the Galloping Goose used to come through. We gathered to watch 
the train come through our little town. I like trains. This isn't about 
being nostalgic or liking trains. It is about whether you think our 
country should have rail passenger service. The testimony this morning 
by Mr. Gunn was that by mid next week, unless the financing is made 
available, Amtrak will shut down. By mid next week, we will have no 
rail passenger service because it will shut down, unless the Department 
of Transportation and the other relevant agencies get together on the 
financing package necessary.
  It is important that we have rail passenger service. Aside from the 
urgent circumstances that face us next week, the other question is 
this: What will the long-term plan be for an Amtrak rail passenger 
system that works?
  The Secretary of Transportation said today that this is his plan: 
Let's take the Northeast corridor and cut it off and sort of 
semiprivatize it and sell it--I am not quite sure to whom--and then we 
will let the rest of the system work on its own. That is a quick, 
effective way to kill Amtrak. Yes, there will be Amtrak service from 
Boston to Washington; that will continue. And the rest of the Amtrak 
rail passenger service will die. Just as certainly as I am standing 
here, we will see the collapse of rail passenger service in the rest of 
the country.
  Last year, over 80,000 people boarded Amtrak in North Dakota. Anybody 
who wonders is Amtrak important, ask yourself what happened on 
September 11 following the devastating attacks by terrorists. Every 
single commercial airplane, every private airplane was

[[Page S5823]]

forced to land. They had to find an airport and land and stop that 
airplane. But Amtrak kept moving across the country, hauling people 
back and forth across the country. Rail service is an important part of 
this country's transportation system. It is that simple.
  To come up with a plan that says, by the way, what we will do is cut 
off the Northeast corridor, which is the most lucrative part of the 
system, and separate it from the rest of the country, is a way of 
saying, let's kill Amtrak in most of America.
  Talk about a thoughtless public policy proposal. This is it.
  This Congress has some work to do. This administration needs to 
address next week. Mr. Gunn says that Amtrak is going to shut down. The 
President of Amtrak says he is going to shut down midweek unless the 
Department of Transportation and others get their act together and 
provide the interim financing necessary. They have an application 
filed.
  One of my colleagues asked the people when they will act on that 
application. Answer: Maybe next week.
  It ought to be now. This is not exactly a surprise. This problem with 
Amtrak has been lingering for a long time, and this Congress seems 
incapable, unwilling, or unable to make decisions that will put this 
rail passenger system on a sound financial footing. Some of my 
colleagues believe we just should kill Amtrak; let it die. What they 
forget is that we subsidize every other form of transportation. You 
name it, we subsidize it.

  They say: But we don't want to have a rail passenger service that is 
subsidized. Everyone has the right to their opinion. But I think this 
country is well served, strengthened, and we are improved by having a 
national system of rail passenger service. No, it does not go 
everywhere. It does not connect every city to every other city. But it 
is a national system that connects the Northeast corridor to routes 
throughout our country in a way that is advantageous to millions of 
Americans.
  This Congress and this administration have to wake up, and they have 
to wake up now. If we don't, and if they don't, we could find mid next 
week a country in which all rail passenger service is gone. If we 
don't, and if they don't, we could find beyond that, if they find the 
interim financing for next week, we could find a rail passenger system 
in which we have this crazy scheme of cutting off the Northeast 
corridor, creating some sort of quasi-private or quasi-public system 
with that, and saying the most lucrative portion of Amtrak shall not be 
available to assist in offsetting other revenues from other parts of 
the system. And we will inevitably create an Amtrak system that dies 
everywhere in the country except for the Northeast corridor. That is 
not a vision that is good for our country.
  This is not the kind of issue that ought to hang up the Congress. It 
is not complicated. We deal with a lot of complicated issues. This is 
not one of them. It is very simply a question to this administration 
that has been sitting on its hands for a long time on this issue. It 
ought to stop. It ought to take some action. And this Congress ought to 
take action for the long term.
  The question is this: Do you believe in rail passenger service or 
not? Do you believe this country is strengthened by having a national 
system of rail passenger service? If you believe it is not and you 
don't like rail passenger service and you want to kill Amtrak, just go 
ahead and do it, if you have the votes.
  But what is happening is inaction, both by the administration and 
inaction by Congress, which is slowly but surely strangling the life 
out of this system called Amtrak.
  It makes no sense to me. Let's make a decision.
  I count myself on the ``aye'' side. I say aye when you call the roll 
to ask do we want to support Amtrak; do we want to have a national rail 
passenger system in our future. The answer is clearly yes. I hope my 
colleagues will agree. I hope we can all agree to stop all of the foot 
dragging going on on this important question.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Minnesota.

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