Lott/Lautenberg Re-Introduce Amtrak Bill in Senate

ne plus ultra wrote:I looked up a map of the Pioneer to figure out what you meant -- I'm not familiar enough with NW geography.

Pioneer ran from Seattle to Salt Lake City, combined with the California Zephyr and Desert Wind eastward to Chicago. This is a near-all UP routing, except SEA-PDX which is the same route used by the Starlight and the Cascades. This would add another train on this already congested route but since Amtrak's maintenance base is in Seattle it would be almost unavoidable.

In later years, it ran from Seattle to Ogden, then east via Wyoming to Denver, then combined with the CZ/Desert Wind.

ne plus ultra wrote:Are you really that confident, or was that a bit of a joke?

Personally, I feel that the Pioneer route is a wasted effort to restore train service.

But if restored, SLC would be an ideal hub.

In case you missed it, "Real All About It"

So, where are we at now with this bill?

The Senate has overwhelmingly passed the Bill.

The House is not likely to take any action on their Bill until next session.

Then it is time for a compromise Committee to ensure that both House and Senate Bills are identical.

After that, it's 'cross town' to 1600 where it is "I do not know what fate awaits me".

218+51+1

If the 1 rejects (vetoes), the magic numbers are 292 and 67, both of which must be met.

So far, neither House has mustered its share. I doubt Lott/Lautenberg will be that bill, either.

Article I, Section 7. The US Constitution

Aside from the veto of the water resources bill, that is, which was just overriden in the Senate by a vote of 79 to 14 (Bloomberg article). I'm comfortable with my prediction that Bush will not veto S.294 in the end, but if he does there is a good chance for an override.

So far, he's gotten a couple in one House, but not the other.

When he gets overridden well and truly, that first time, Katey bar the door. He'll have a Ford-esque life.

At the end of the day, Lott/Lautenberg will get rolled up into some other major legislative package.... that's my prediction.

mkellerm wrote:Aside from the veto of the water resources bill, that is, which was just overriden in the Senate by a vote of 79 to 14 (Bloomberg article). I'm comfortable with my prediction that Bush will not veto S.294 in the end, but if he does there is a good chance for an override.

I think there's a chance he may not veto. While it's not exactly what he wanted, it does contain measures to ensure improvement in operations...and he'd be the first president to do something sensible about the situation. Some of his ideas have been good, such as endorsing the idea to charge FAA fees based on frequency rather than passenger counts.

John_Perkowski wrote: So far, neither House has mustered its share. I doubt Lott/Lautenberg will be that bill, either.

The Senate passed it 70-22. That's an override.

I've been skimming through the bill passed by the Senate, and correct me if I'm wrong, but the $1.4 billion is not an appropriation, it's only an authorization--effectively just a recommendation to the Appropriations Committee. The Appropriations Committee will make its own judgement about Amtrak funding and will have the final say. It's one thing for all those Republicans to vote for a $1.4 billion authorization, but it's quite another to vote for a $1.4 billion appropriation.

Apart from all that, I'm not sure what practical benefit the rest of the bill has for Amtrak beyond the repeal of the self-sufficiency provisions. Mostly it looks like a show of moral support, but Congress will also keep the railroad busy writing a bunch of reports and strategic plans for the next year--probably enough to cover most of that $1.4 billion. Though I for one await with interest the Acela trip time studies, two each for the North and South ends of the corridor. These will delineate what capital repairs are required to get Washington-NYC to 2:30 and then to 2:15; as well as what's required to get NYC-BOS to 3:15 and then 3:00. The omnibus report is due to the Congress Feb. 1, 2008.

Absolutely correct Mr. Robb. The funding is another piece of legislation most likely simply a line item in a veto proof Omnibus Spending Bill.

As always "no Yuma, no moolah'

There is a distinct possibility Lott Lautenberg could simply be one more of these "unfunded mandates' type of legislation.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:Absolutely correct Mr. Robb. The funding is another piece of legislation most likely simply a line item in a veto proof Omnibus Spending Bill.

As always "no Yuma, no moolah'

There is a distinct possibility Lott Lautenberg could simply be one more of these "unfunded mandates' type of legislation.

It's worth keeping in mind that most of the nay-saying in this forum is coming from people who 6 months ago were telling us that the Democratic congress would be no different and wouldn't pass such a bill as Lott-Lautenberg in the first place. Already, they've been proven completely wrong on that. And on other rail funding predictions (anyone remember the prediction that the Illinois trains would be gone in a year???)

Lott-Lautenberg is certainly not an unfunded mandate. It's not a mandate. As a financial bill, it's a recommendation and guideline for the appropriators, and they'll use it as such, as they always do. People on the appropriations committees of Congress have NEVER been known for tamping down expectations ratcheted up elsewhere. They are "appropriators." It's very unlikely that the appropriators in the Senate will bring in a bill any smaller than L-L.

And how Amtrak could spend "most of that $1.4 billion" "writing reports". I'd like to challenge the poster who wrote that to find an Amtrak expenditure for anywhere close to even 5% of that on reports and studies.

mkellerm is a voice of reason. I'm pretty comfortable with my prediction from 6 months ago that the likely outcome is some compromise with the administration at the conference committee level, pulling down the amount of new capital spending but not eliminating it.

Since I wrote earlier, I heard about Congress overriding the President on WRDA. Katey Bar the Door.

Bush may well veto this, but to me it's an easy over-ride, there something in it for a lot of Senators and Congresscritters.