The Washington Monthly

February 4, 2003

AMTRAK BUDGET CUTS....Reuters reports that Bush's budget plan proposes cutting some of Amtrak's long-haul passenger routes, and I hope this is one program cut they can make stick. Subsidizing money losing trains from Los Angeles to Orlando is just nuts. Unfortunately, there's this:

Some routes have political strings attached, with key members of Congress favoring the jobs and service the trains provide to constituents. Many lawmakers whose districts or states have no Amtrak service resent any subsidies.

The total number of jobs that Amtrak's long haul routes provides just has to be microscopic in the great scheme of things. Are congress critters really so slavishly devoted to pork that they can't even give up this miniscule make-work program?

This is just a rhetorical question, of course. I already know the answer.

—Kevin Drum 3:45 PM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (0)

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