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Hassles of Air Travel Push Passengers to Amtrak

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Amtrak's federal subsidies are a rounding error in the federal budget. Agreed!  It is chump change. In FY09, Amtrak received federal operating and ARRA subsidies of approximately $3.7 billion. The operating subsidy was in the neighborhood of $1.3 billion. The combined transfers worked out to an average of $45.20 per taxpayer. The operating subsidy, which repeats itself annually, averaged $14.65 per taxpayer.  Each year the Congressional Budget Office publishes a report of potential savings by budget line item for the federal government. Amtrak makes the list each year.  So too do hundreds of other items, many of which are relatively small on average per taxpayer.  Here are a few other examples (on average) per taxpayer:  $28.09 for the highway trust fund transfers; $23.21 for the arts and humanities; $17.10 to change the Social Security COLA; $4.89 to reduce the premium subsidy for crop insurance; and $2.16 for the Essential Air Services Program.   The list goes on for many pages. Every special interest group claims that its perk is just a rounding error in the federal deficit. Unfortunately, when one adds them all up, they come close to $600 billion, which is approximately half of the annual federal deficit.
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