Jeffords of Vermont

[wanswheel]

http://www.timesargus.com/article/20140822/NEWS03/708229927

[northeaster]

Nice tribute to a very good man. When I lived in Vermont in the 1960' & 70's, I did my bit to encourage Senator George Aiken to work on keeping the Montrealer and was at the White River Junction when her Amtrak version first called....rode it when the lounge car had a piano! How satisfying it was to hear her whistle at crossings come thru the mountains at night to our little mountain farm. Thanks for putting this together.

[wanswheel]

http://www.uvm.edu/~jeffords/?Page=about/jeffords_bio.php&SM=about/_aboutmenu.html

Statement of Senator James M. Jeffords in Support of the Byrd Amendment

March 16, 2005

Mr. President, I stand today to speak in support of Senator Byrd's amendment to restore funding for Amtrak. The amendment would increase funding for Amtrak by $200 million over last year's level of $1.2 billion.

Starving Amtrak into bankruptcy may appear to be the quick and easy solution to the bleak picture that some have imposed upon this fundamental element of America's transportation system. Nonetheless I remain convinced that the simplest and most effective answer lies with the amendment before us. I join my esteemed colleague Senator Byrd to insist that we fully fund rail travel in this country and guarantee Amtrak the opportunity to secure its future in the 21st century.

In just over three decades, Amtrak has grown to encompass a passenger rail network that connects 46 states, including my home state of Vermont. Through the years Amtrak has stood resilient in the face of financial peril and today it carries 24 million passengers annually and employs 22,000 Americans.

Amtrak serves a diverse ridership that depends on the continued existence of safe and reliable transportation. Amtrak shuttles commuters to their jobs, brings college students home for the holidays, and increases mobility for the elderly and the disabled. In urban areas, passenger rail relieves traffic on overcrowded highways. In rural states like Vermont, passenger rail ensures access to metropolitan centers and provides public transportation to regions where it might otherwise be too costly or unavailable.

As fuel prices remain unstable and our nation's highways and airports suffer ever-increasing congestion and delays, Amtrak offers an invaluable alternative upon which Americans have come to rely.

I think one of my Vermont constituents expressed this sentiment best in a letter I recently received. Colby Crehan of Burlington, Vermont wrote of her Amtrak trip across the United States: "I was able to travel safely and comfortably on a train while seeing the beautiful landscape that covers so much of this country. Amtrak introduced me to the rest of America in a way that a car or plane trip could never do. These trips confirmed my feeling that train travel is the safest, most convenient and relaxing way to travel perhaps you can share my story."

Our choice today is clear. We can forfeit our prior investments and the investments of state and local governments back home, or we can uphold our responsibility to ensure that passenger rail remains an integral part of our nation's transportation system. The future of passenger rail in this country belongs in the hands of Congress, not in the bankruptcy courts. I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of this amendment.