Cong. John Mica lost House, considered for transportation secretary

[WoodyinNYC]

... on the future of Amtrak. We have a (nominally) Republican president-elect and the House and Senate have Republican majorities.

The GOP told us what they want for Amtrak in their 2016 platform (p. 5). H:

"Amtrak is an extremely expensive railroad for the American taxpayers, who must subsidize every ticket. The federal government should allow private ventures to provide passenger service in the northeast corridor ... [and on] high-speed and intercity rail across the country. ... end federal support for boondoggles like California’s high-speed train to nowhere."

Close reading of this language is calming. The worst they say about Amtrak is that it's very expensive and the taxpayers must subsidize every ticket.

Admittedly it's a very expensive railroad, like every transit railroad in the country.

Obviously they got it wrong about the subsidies: Neither the Acelas nor the Regionals on the NEC require a subsidy for operations. We have reason to believe that, without the corporate overhead burdening them, about half of the LD trains operate with a surplus. And seems to me that on an inflation-adjusted basis, the operating loss of the entire system has been gradually shrinking. So there's less subsidy than meets the eye.

Then it calls for Amtrak to allow private operators on the NEC. I thought that current legislation already encourages private operators to bid for such work, but ain't happening.

Last the platform opposes any and all unnamed "boondoggles", but especially CAHSR. Well, the Repubs in the House have already been blocking any more federal funds for CAHSR. So this does not represent a new threat.

Amtrak should survive even a few years of DOT Secretary John Mica.

 

[afigg]

Already mentioned above. Mica has the transportation resume, is now available, and likely doesn't want to go home to Florida at age 73 to start a whole new career. Just the little problem that Amtrak fans hate him.

And a better candidate is? Better give the name to the transition team quick.

Mica does not need to go home to Florida to look for a job. As a former Committee chairman, he could cash in with DC law and lobby firms and make a lot more than he been making as a Congressman. If he is picked as Transportation Secretary and takes the position, he won't make as much money, but will have a lot more power. For better or worse.

Personally, I am very concerned as to what will happen for the next 4 years, with Amtrak as a very small part of the picture. Trump is not like Reagan. Not even close. But that is getting OT.

One interesting sidelight that has some relevance to Amtrak is that US DOT is requesting applications for the FY2017 FASTLANE grant program, deadline is December 15. FASTLANE was authorized as a 5 year program, so apparently it is not dependent on waiting for FY2017 appropriation bills to be passed. Is the current Administration and Secretary Fox going to try to fast track the application reviews and make the FY2017 grant award selections by January 20? Say, a big grant to Chicago CREATE? If they do, that won't lock in the awards because the funds can't be obligated in time and the next Transportation Secretary could cancel the awards if he/she really wanted to.

To be clear, the FY17 FASTLANE application announcement was made before the election, so the process was underway before Nov. 8. USDOT press release: USDOT Requests Applications for $850 Million in FASTLANE Transportation Infrastructure Grants.

 

[Carolina Special]

Actually Mica could quite comfortably retire, given his net worth disclosed between $3 and $9 million. Most of this is evidently in real estate, with apparently not much debt. And 20+ years in Congress provides a decent pension ($50-60k looks like), although maybe not by DC cost of living standards.

Anyway, the allure of power is pretty appealing to most of the guys and gals in Congress. Which I believe is why we have so many congresspersons of retirement age.

If Mica gets the offer, I suspect he'll take it.

 

[Gulfwind2]

As for Mica possibly being appointed to become DOT Secretary, this should be terrifying for those who are in any of Amtrak's unions or to folks like myself who need long distance trains as a basis of movement between states. What we know so far (if the hearsay is true) is that Mica is on the list of candidates. It has been reported that he is interested, and we know of literally no other people who are on the list. Unless the Trump transition team gets a stream of angry letters and e-mails demanding that Mica be taken off the list in favor of someone such as Mike Haverty or Charles A. Kilpatrick (VA DoT Commissioner) whose experience and leadership philosophies better align with Trump's comments on transportation, then Mica is going to be the natural choice. Transportation Secretary is usually among the most thoughtless of the cabinet appointments, and the folks that are brought up for the job usually are met with no resistance whatsoever from citizens or politicians. It would however make an impressive statement if people who have a vested interest in seeing Amtrak meet its needs rather than be toyed with by autocrats who lack rail-related experience were to show resistance toward the potential appointment of Mica as DOT Secretary.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I just want to remind everyone that Amtrak has had similar circumstances before and survived, such as the budget crisis of 2002. Amtrak may be different but it should keep going.

&

I don't think we've ever come as close to losing Amtrak as we did during the initial years of the Reagan Administration. Don Phillips, of Trains magazine and (then) the Washington Post, commented that for a time in Congress, Amtrak was dead. If the company survived those challenges, I don't think we have much to worry about under President Trump, who has far bigger fish to fry.

The optimistic outlook for Amtrak is apparently based on the concept that having survived Russian Roulette several times in the past there's little harm in yet another spin. From a strictly logical perspective that's an amazingly weak argument to make.

People need to realize the "Amtrak is doomed, woe is me!" senseless rhetoric isn't helping anything.

Who exactly are you responding to? There is nothing senseless or unhelpful about being concerned that Amtrak is likely to be at risk of substantial (and possibly severe) budget cuts and/or being pushed into privatization. Nothing at all.

There are definitely far bigger fish to fry.

Unfortunately we seem to have elected an extremely petty man with an amazingly large skillet.

 

[jis]

The real problem with the strange guy we elected is that no one, including his most ardent supporters actually seem to know what his favorite fish are. many of them are already losing their mind from some of his latest utterances, which I must admit, is kind of entertaining - only if it were not simultaneously terrifying as to what other random policy utterances are forthcoming goring which oxen.

 

[Ziv]

jis, he is a Manhattan Populist, not a conservative, so, as you note, nobody knows where he will come down on a lot of issues. I am conservative, but I have to admit that I am looking forward to the howls of pain when he comes out with a populist policy that doesn't agree with the conservative dogma.

The real problem with the strange guy we elected is that no one, including his most ardent supporters actually seem to know what his favorite fish are. many of them are already losing their mind from some of his latest utterances, which I must admit, is kind of entertaining - only if it were not simultaneously terrifying as to what other random policy utterances are forthcoming goring which oxen.

 

[jis]

Yup agreed! He afterall was a Democrat less than two years back, almost literally until the day before he decided to run for President as a Republican

 

[Hytec]

This was published today (11/14/16) on the Trains.com Newswire.........

UPDATE Report: Trump team considering John Mica for transportation secretary

By Bob Johnston | November 14, 2016



U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., gestures at a committee meeting on Capitol Hill in 2008. The frequent Amtrak critic lost his bid for re-election this year and is rumored to be on President-elect Donald Trump's list as a potential nominee for Secretary of Transportation.
Bob Johnston

ORLANDO, Fla. — Although Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica failed to retain his seat in the U.S. House of Representatives after serving there for 24 years, FloridaPolitics.com is reporting that he is under consideration to be U.S. Secretary of Transportation.

On Friday, Mica declined to comment to FloridaPolitics.com about the prospect, but the website did interview Orange County (Fla.) Republican Chairman Lew Oliver, who says he spoke with the congressman. Oliver says that Mica told him that he had heard indirectly — but not directly — that he is on the Trump transition team’s list for the cabinet job and that he is interested.

More available here: http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2016/11/14-mica-transportation-secretary

 

[snvboy]

I guess the "draining of the swamp" just means being able to bottle the swamp water and call it Gatorade and re-selling it to us at a profit.

 

[Lonestar648]

Could Mica being Sec Trans cause Amtrak even more problems? Trump says he wants to rebuild the infrastructure, so doing away with Amtrak like Mica wants, doesn't seem like he is in sync with the Trump plan.

 

[Dakota 400]

A possible Mr. Transportation Secretary Mica does not warm my heart on a cold Ohio night.

President-Elect Trump may want work done on infrastructure which could, should mean more jobs available for those qualified to hold them. But, if the objective of our newly elected Congress is to continue to cut taxes, where is the money coming from to build whatever infrastructure our country needs as well as to support or improve/expand Amtrak service? Congress holds the purse strings, remember.

 

[Carolina Special]

One suggestion I've seen is that the government works a lower tax deal to encourage US multinationals to repatriate their cash held overseas due to higher US tax rates. The money the government collects can then be used for infrastructure spending without disturbing the rest of the tax structure, in a sense being found money.

Whether this is workable or not, I don't know. Politicians have been trying to get at these foreign held dollars for a decade or so to fund their pet projects, since the last "tax holiday".

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Could Mica being Sec Trans cause Amtrak even more problems? Trump says he wants to rebuild the infrastructure, so doing away with Amtrak like Mica wants, doesn't seem like he is in sync with the Trump plan.

Is there an actual plan published somewhere? I've looked but never found anything specific from Trump himself. That being the case I'm not sure how we are supposed to determine if any given decision or action is in or out of sync with such a plan.

 

[CHamilton]

http://thehill.com/policy/transportation/306005-ousted-gop-lawmaker-eyes-gig-as-trumps-transportation-secretary

 

[MikeM]

At this point, it's anyone's guess what happens next. During the election, Trump said he would not touch Medicare yet seven days post election he's signed on to Paul Ryan's proposal to phase Medicare out. He were going to shut down crony capitalism but the treasury secretary candidates are all wall street bankers. I'm not passing judgement on his positions but just noting everything is in flux.

Personally my gut feeling is we are going to see a major push to outsource and privatize anything that can make someone money,and dump anything without strong Republican support. I suspect the most likely end will be the NEC and some regional operations spun out to states, Autotrain and maybe one or two long distance trains might convert to rail cruise routes running at peak times and peak fares. I think in an environment like we'll be in with lots of division and animosity, we will not see rail passenger service rating much attention. Mica would make a bad situation worse but either way I just don't see much reason for optimistic thoughts. .

 

[jis]

Could Mica being Sec Trans cause Amtrak even more problems? Trump says he wants to rebuild the infrastructure, so doing away with Amtrak like Mica wants, doesn't seem like he is in sync with the Trump plan.

Is there an actual plan published somewhere? I've looked but never found anything specific from Trump himself. That being the case I'm not sure how we are supposed to determine if any given decision or action is in or out of sync with such a plan.

There is no plan, and also many interpret the use of the term "infrastructure" to cover fixed assets and not services provided using those fixed assets. So when Trump says "infrastructure" it could very well cover things like rebuilding the tracks and tunnels of the NEC, but not necessarily providing funding for running services using said assets to a government owned entity. Even more interestingly, providing support for infrastructure may come packaged with divestiture of the same from government ownership to private ownership. So be very careful what you wish for.

IMHO there is absolutely no inconsistency between rebuilding infrastrcture and getting rid of Amtrak as it is constituted today.

 

[pennyk]

From today's Orlando Sentinel:

Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica said Tuesday he has been in discussions with the incoming Donald Trump administration about becoming U.S. transportation secretary.

"I would have an interest in pursuing that," Mica said. Last week, he lost his longtime Central Florida seat to Democratic newcomer Stephanie Murphy, who benefited from redrawn district lines.

on-line article here

 

[MikeM]

Totally agree. If it's shiny, impressive, and can be stood in front of for a ceremony, it's a go. If it can be built profitably by someone that is politically connected, it's a go. If it's something that happens daily, isn't flashy, and doesn't make anyone money, it's government waste.

Just afraid that Amtrak falls in category 3. New rail cars and locomotives could be in category 1, but they're going to be competing with bridges and highways which are always more visible it seems. And if Mica gets Transportation Secretary, I can't wait to see the new automat cars in Amtrak long haul service. Yikes. I'm planning my next Amtrak trip quick before things go south.

 

[WICT106]

Please, no.

 

[FormerOBS]

I guess the "draining of the swamp" just means being able to bottle the swamp water and call it Gatorade and re-selling it to us at a profit.

Lots of frogs, snakes, and gators in that Cabinet. Considering Trump's consistent ratings of about 70% falsehood throughout the campaign, the only thing that surprises me is that some people who voted for him are surprised. They claimed to vote for the guy who represented change, but kept the House and Senate that has spent the past 7-1/2 years resisting any positive changes that would benefit average American workers, veterans, minorities, immigrants, religious and ethnic minorities, or anybody else who doesn't fit into their elite club of 1 percenters.

When the new Auto Train terminal was built in Sanford a couple years ago, Mr. Mica showed up for the opening ceremonies. He asked why the new facility was built in the same cramped location, and not in the more spacious area nearby. He was informed that plans had been made to do exactly that because any fool could see that it made much more sense. But his own Committee killed the funding to do it.

Tom

 

[FormerOBS]

Could Mica being Sec Trans cause Amtrak even more problems? Trump says he wants to rebuild the infrastructure, so doing away with Amtrak like Mica wants, doesn't seem like he is in sync with the Trump plan.

Is there an actual plan published somewhere? I've looked but never found anything specific from Trump himself. That being the case I'm not sure how we are supposed to determine if any given decision or action is in or out of sync with such a plan.

Trump and his crew came into the White House ignorant of even the most basic facts about staffing and running the White House. His only plan throughout the campaign has been "It'll be great, and so much better!" No details. Just emotional claptrap. It's about time we all recognize these two overriding facts: 1. There is no plan. 2. The Emperor has no clothes.

 

[Bob Dylan]

Excellent posts Tom!

Fasten your seat belts and get ready for a wild ride as the Gang that can't shoot straight rolls into Washington to collect their spoils!

 

[neroden]

The real problem with the strange guy we elected is that no one, including his most ardent supporters actually seem to know what his favorite fish are.

Well, based on some of the very few things he's been consistent about since the 1970s, he likes real estate development, and he supports tarriffs. That's all I know.

 

[Carolina Special]

The Art of the Deal.