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Upcoming House vote on an amendment to defund Amtrak

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<p>[quote user="oltmannd"]</p> <blockquote class="quote"> <div class="quote-user">Sam1</div> <div class="quote-content">Apparently the RRIF procedures were not too cumbersome for Amtrak and 29 other carriers.  They were able to work their way through the paper maze and lasso $1.8 billion.  Amtrak found a way to get more than 663 million.</div> </blockquote> <div class="quote-footer">The rules were cumbersome enough that only a small fraction of the money available to be loaned was actually used.</div> <p><a href="http://usa.streetsblog.org/2011/02/18/in-age-of-s%C2%ADpending-cuts-why-are-billions-of-federal-rail-dollars-going-unused/">http://usa.streetsblog.org/2011/02/18/in-age-of-s%C2%ADpending-cuts-why-are-billions-of-federal-rail-dollars-going-unused/</a></p> <p>[/quote]</p> <p>I don't have time to research thoroughly the issue.  </p> <p>Although $35 billion was authorized for the program, how much was appropriated?  This is the key question.  </p> <p>Frequently Congress authorizes money for a program.  But until the monies are appropriated, the figure is meaningless.  </p> <p>The referenced article does not differentiate between authorization and appropriation.  Big mistake or oversight!  In addition, the views expressed by the witnesses appear to be general impressions that are not supported by hard data.  Where is it, i.e. number of days by quintiles required to secure a loan, number of loans rejected, number of loan applications withdrawn, etc. </p> <p>I am sticking with my perspective.  A significant number of railroads, including Amtrak, worked their way through the paper requirements.  If Amtrak management, which strikes me as an excuse team, can find its way through the paper requirements, they cannot be too difficult.</p> <p> </p>
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