WASHINGTON -- A Republican-controlled House panel on Wednesday approved deep spending cuts to Amtrak's budget just hours after a deadly crash in Philadelphia.
The Appropriations Committee backed a $55 billion transportation and housing measure after rejecting Democratic attempts to boost spending on Amtrak by more than $1 billion, including $556 million targeted for the railroad's Northeast corridor, site of the derailment. The vote was 30-21 along party lines.
The Republican bill would cut Amtrak's budget by $251 million, to $1.1 billion, for the upcoming fiscal year.
"Every day, tens of thousands of passengers travel our nation's railways on Amtrak -- a majority of those along the Northeast Corridor where yesterday's tragic accident occurred," said Rep. Chaka Fattah, who represents Philadelphia. "These riders deserve safe, secure, and modern infrastructure."
President Barack Obama asked for almost $2.5 billion for Amtrak in his February budget, much more than he'd requested in previous years. Obama's proposed boost is mostly dedicated to capital investment in track, tunnels and bridges and includes $400 million in grants for capital construction along Amtrak's Northeast corridor.
The vote came as Congress stares down a deadline in 18 days to reauthorize legislation to pay for highways and transit programs.
Amtrak is one of many flash points in the underlying measure, which Democrats say shortchanges important programs for the poor and contains giveaways to the trucking industry.
In recent years, cuts by House Republicans have been restored in House-Senate negotiations, but the railroad's budget has remained generally flat.
Fattah's $1.3 billion amendment to fully fund Obama's Amtrak request failed along party lines after Republicans pointed out that it would have broken budget limits and left the bill vulnerable to procedural challenges.
Top panel Democrat Nita Lowey said the measure undercuts important accounts, including those dedicated to transportation safety and capital construction. Lowey said the bill "drastically short-changes job-creating investments critical to hardworking American families, like roads, bridges, and rail systems and access to safe and affordable housing."
But Chairman Harold Rogers said majority Republicans are hamstrung by automatic spending cuts known as sequestration that are forcing a freeze in the operating budgets of domestic agencies funded by lawmakers each year. These cuts are the result of a hard-fought 2011 budget deal between Obama and Republicans and are more punishing than originally intended because Congress has yet to find substitute cuts or revenues to replace them.
"We have no choice but to abide by the law," Rogers said.
The White House and Democrats are pushing to boost domestic programs and insist that they'll thwart RepublicaN efforts to increase the Pentagon's budget if domestic agencies aren't given comparable relief. Republicans have padded war accounts -- which are exempt from spending limits -- to add to the Pentagon's budget by $38 billion, a 7 per cent increase that matches Obama's overall request.
