see post #72
Amendment to CR blocking furloughs and thrice weekly long distance trains
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Simple. It was suggested a clean bill with the wording needed to stop “ try weakly” and furloughs. That was allegedly in HR2. She sent that over knowing that some would find it unpalatable.
yes the CR is different, but it’s the second go round that was supposed to “ save Amtrak”.
now we are up to round three
.
yes the CR is different, but it’s the second go round that was supposed to “ save Amtrak”.
now we are up to round three
.
jis
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An interesting observation that one of the RPA folks made the other day was, when they went to talk to the Senate Committee leadership about saving the Hoosier State, the Committee Chair spoke briefly with them and pointed out that no one in the Committee was willing to fight for it, or even mention it so naturally it is not in the bill. I would not be surprised if something akin to that is going on here, even on the House side. It is getting lost in the horse trading about bigger things.
I suspect the CR had to be clean in terms of money that needed to be appropriated, and adding the additional funding for daily would have broken that possibly causing problems on the Senate side. A similar parallel attempt to prevent post 1 October ailirlines furloughs has also failed. No one apparently thought it was a good idea to potentially face a government shutdown over this.
BTW, I cannot find anything in HR2 about COVID related supplemental appropriation for preventing furloghs. Maybe I need to look harder in non-obvious corners. It appears to be a straight 5 year Authorization and one year CR Appropriation at the 2019-20 level. In contrast 8337 is a clean stopgap CR with virtually nothing else in it, and certainly nothing else that needs additional appropriation beyond the CR levels. The food service language in it has no financial impact on the bill. Even the food service language was a small, most critical, extract from the more complete overhaul language in HR2.
I suspect that in all likelihood the Daines Amendment to 8337 if actually addressed might, have failed. Really what is needed is another COVID Supplemental and that at present is, shall we say, a bit stuck. That is where the funding for stopping the tri-weekly stuff is as has been acknowledged by several people, and the question is if it will see the light of the day in this Congress session, even as late as the lame duck session.
I suspect the CR had to be clean in terms of money that needed to be appropriated, and adding the additional funding for daily would have broken that possibly causing problems on the Senate side. A similar parallel attempt to prevent post 1 October ailirlines furloughs has also failed. No one apparently thought it was a good idea to potentially face a government shutdown over this.
BTW, I cannot find anything in HR2 about COVID related supplemental appropriation for preventing furloghs. Maybe I need to look harder in non-obvious corners. It appears to be a straight 5 year Authorization and one year CR Appropriation at the 2019-20 level. In contrast 8337 is a clean stopgap CR with virtually nothing else in it, and certainly nothing else that needs additional appropriation beyond the CR levels. The food service language in it has no financial impact on the bill. Even the food service language was a small, most critical, extract from the more complete overhaul language in HR2.
I suspect that in all likelihood the Daines Amendment to 8337 if actually addressed might, have failed. Really what is needed is another COVID Supplemental and that at present is, shall we say, a bit stuck. That is where the funding for stopping the tri-weekly stuff is as has been acknowledged by several people, and the question is if it will see the light of the day in this Congress session, even as late as the lame duck session.
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It appears those in Congress have very little skin in the game when it comes to Amtrak. Some really want Amtrak to survive but are distracted right now with other crisis. I sincerely doubt Amtrak Management is actively lobbying to keep the company fully functioning with daily LD trains. I contact my Senators, Representative, and Governor regularly even though they do not respond or have a comment on Amtrak.
crescent-zephyr
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I really would hope that Amtrak was pretty low on the list of priorities right now.
Siegmund
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The airlines are screaming a lot louder than Amtrak is.
But our one chance to do anything for Amtrak is to get it through at the same time as the next airline relief bill. I'd be very surprised if one wasn't forthcoming once Congress reconvenes.
But our one chance to do anything for Amtrak is to get it through at the same time as the next airline relief bill. I'd be very surprised if one wasn't forthcoming once Congress reconvenes.
Dakota 400
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And, at least with one of my Senators and my Representative who belong to the same Party, if I get a response, it likely will have little to nothing to do about which I made my contact. That irritates me greatly! It's so disrespectful of me as a constituent!
Well, DJT just blew up all negotiations for ANY relief package until after the elections.
jb
jb
He’s pretty erratic - it could be a negotiating ploy - I wouldn’t put it past him.
Plus the reaction on Wall Street probably didn't help his cause.
AmtrakFlyer
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I think it’s safe to say the balls been punted to the Biden Administrations DOT to determine Amtrak’s future. Many variables including who controls Congress and if the new DOT has the courage/desire/forethought to fire Amtrak’s management and shake up the Board.
Most on here have said probably not much will change either way, it never does.
It’s different this time though, the poison pills have been planted deep by Chao, the Board, Anderson and now Flynn. The status quo can’t go on. Ridership won’t return to what’s left of this sorry excuse for a company charging exhorbinate rates for at best a Greyhound type service.
Instead of touting Amtrak and Sleepers as a Covid safe way to travel they have literally burned the house down. All Amtrak needs to be successful is a niche to grab 2-3 percent of market share. The numbers may be off but regardless they aren’t much. Covid/safety/convenience could be their niche going forward. Make lemonaide out of lemons.
Most on here have said probably not much will change either way, it never does.
It’s different this time though, the poison pills have been planted deep by Chao, the Board, Anderson and now Flynn. The status quo can’t go on. Ridership won’t return to what’s left of this sorry excuse for a company charging exhorbinate rates for at best a Greyhound type service.
Instead of touting Amtrak and Sleepers as a Covid safe way to travel they have literally burned the house down. All Amtrak needs to be successful is a niche to grab 2-3 percent of market share. The numbers may be off but regardless they aren’t much. Covid/safety/convenience could be their niche going forward. Make lemonaide out of lemons.
Guessing you're not on Facebook. They've been doing a lot of advertising on FB related to safe way to travel, at least to those of us who 'follow' them. I can't say for TV because I turned off my TV back in April and haven't bothered to turn it back on.
Really? What about all the people who work there and are losing their jobs. Same for airlines, hotels, and restaurants. These intellectual arguments involve real people and their livelihood. If the USA can’t take care of its citizens it’s no better than a second or third world country imho.
crescent-zephyr
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Agreed. Where would you place Amtrak operating 3 days a week and not 7 on the list?
jis
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Or it could just be his Dexamethazone speaking err tweeting.
or some combination thereof...The fact that the US by its own apparently considered choice, chooses to not take care of its citizens and works diligently to reduce how much it takes care of its people, is an unfortunate established fact. But the scope of that dalliance spreads well beyond the scope of this thread and forum I am afraid.
Or it could just be his Dexamethazone speaking err tweeting.
The fact that the US by its own apparently considered choice, chooses to not take care of its citizens and works diligently to reduce how much it takes care of its people, is an unfortunate established fact. But the scope of that dalliance spreads well beyond the scope of this thread and forum I am afraid.
India certainly has a vastly superior rail system compared to us in terms of frequency and number of routes. I know there are plans to build hsr.
Qapla
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And, your point? I was just saying that I have no idea if Amtrak is advertising on TV - in my area - because I've not been watching TV for the past several months.
jis
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India also has absolutely no financial safety net for anyone, rich or poor. But I am not sure that any conclusions can be drawn about any correlation between that and the vastness and rapid current growth of the rail system, and also incidentally the highway system..
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Qapla
Engineer
Sorry, I didn't mean to upset anyone
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Flynn has submitted a letter stating the end of the CR as a dead line for stimulus to avoid further cuts - they formalized a request for just south of $5 billion in operating subsidies and funding to help states keep corridors going as well as $5 billion in capital project stimulus. They are going to adjust capital spending to keep the lights on between now and December 11 but Flynn basically said something must be done during the lame duck to avoid permanent long standing damage to the company.
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