Early Wednesday afternoon, the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives passed a bill that would authorize Amtrak and intercity passenger rail programs to be funded at fiscal 2015 levels through fiscal 2020. While the bill, dubbed the Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015 (PRRIA, H.R.749) contains some troublesome provisions and is far from perfect from the perspective of most rail passenger advocates, it passed the House by a convincing margin of 316 to 101, with 132 Republicans joining all 184 Democrats in support. The bill won the endorsement of the OneRail Coalition, a group of both freight and passenger rail stakeholders (including Amtrak, the Association of American Railroads, the National Association of Railroad Passengers, short line & regional railroads, suppliers, rail labor, and others), but the conservative Heritage Action Foundation came out in opposition.
Perhaps the most telling vote on Wednesday was one on an amendment by Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), whose district includes three Amtrak-served communities (Roseville, Auburn and Truckee), that would have eliminated all authorized funding for Amtrak. That amendment failed by a vote of 147 to 272, meaning that 46 Republicans supported an amendment to eliminate Amtrak funding, but then voted to support the underlying bill with the funding included. While the unanimity of Democrats along with 36% of the Republican caucus in support of maintaining Amtrak funding is heartening, it is troubling that a full 34% of current House membership, including several dozen whose districts Amtrak serves, would do away with Amtrak entirely.
This map, prepared by the Environmental Law and Policy Center, overlays the Congressional districts — color-coded by their representatives’ votes on the McClintock amendment as well as on passage of the bill — with an Amtrak system map to show that, by and large, opposition to Amtrak funding comes from districts either not served or served very poorly (only three times a week or at inconvenient times) by Amtrak. This shows that advocates’ challenge remains to convince those who don’t use or don’t have access to passenger trains of their value as a travel choice, and that were the Amtrak system able to expand, political support for it would likely grow as well.
Click to enlarge.
A summary of some of the provisions of the House-adopted PRRIA 2015:
Other noteworthy aspects of Wednesday’s House floor action:
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