Passenger Trains > Amtrak Bill Passed in House.

What a Great Day Today is Amtrak Bill passed in House 316 to 101. for 7 Billion over 4 years.

147 Republicans voted for an amendment to kill Amtrak. (It failed).

Billion here, billion there, doesn't seem to matter which party is in control. Too bad for my grandchildren.

railcity Wrote:
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> What a Great Day Today is Amtrak Bill passed in
> House 316 to 101. for 7 Billion over 4 years.

Uh.......How about the Senate?? When the Senate and house bills get together, that when the horse trading starts??

railcity Wrote:
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> What a Great Day Today is Amtrak Bill passed in
> House 316 to 101. for 7 Billion over 4 years.


Now, did the bill contain any money? I don't think so.

ClipX Wrote:
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> railcity Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > What a Great Day Today is Amtrak Bill passed in
> > House 316 to 101. for 7 Billion over 4 years.
>
> Uh.......How about the Senate?? When the Senate
> and house bills get together, that when the horse
> trading starts??


But that 7 Billion is Premise to Amtrak for 4 years? Why should they Horse trading for??

railcity Wrote:
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> What a Great Day Today is Amtrak Bill passed in
> House 316 to 101. for 7 Billion over 4 years.

Then we see this just below:

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147 Republicans voted for an amendment to kill Amtrak. (It failed).

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147 turned into 101 in 24 hours. Lets explore the arithmetic here. We have at least 46 true believing ideologues who "wanted to kill Amtrak altogether" yesterday, but then disappeared when it was time to actually vote on the appropriation bill?

Do I perhaps detect some grandstanding here? A touch of hypocrisy? Votes that allow these fine public servants to say that they voted to kill Amtrak to one group of constituents while pointing out their support of Amtrak to another group?

Nah, I'm just being cynical...

There's a big difference between an Authorization and an Appropriation. It is the latter where the rubber meets the road. This ain't it.

joemvcnj Wrote:
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> 147 Republicans voted for an amendment to kill
> Amtrak. (It failed).

H R 749 RECORDED VOTE 4-Mar-2015 2:40 PM
AUTHOR(S): McClintock of California Amendment No. 6
QUESTION: On Agreeing to the Amendment

Votes found here:
https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/114-2015/h110
or here:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll110.xml

Final vote found here:
H R 749 YEA-AND-NAY 4-Mar-2015 3:05 PM
QUESTION: On Passage
BILL TITLE: To reauthorize Federal support for passenger rail programs and for other purposes

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/114-2015/h112

Yes, being able to say that you voted both ways on a matter can be an asset.

Hopefully the Montana media will bring their Representative's "Aye" vote on the amendment to the attention of High Line residents. The Empire Builder plays an important transportation roll in that part of the state for long distance and local travel.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/05/15 20:46 by terrybaker.

reindeerflame Wrote:
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> Yes, being able to say that you voted both ways on
> a matter can be an asset.


Yep, my conservative representative, Lynn Jenkins, did just that. I gotta give her credit though for voting no on the McClintock amendment. I hope she doesn't get a spanking from Heritage Action for that. I see only 7 other California legislators went along with your buddy McClintock. What's really incredible is, McClintock voted for the final bill. That's just grandstanding with his stupid amendment!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/15 18:04 by mp51w.

Don't know in general why Railcity is excited, just because this is over with doesn't mean Amtrak's gonna finally get better overnight! I for one am still not holding my breath as long as they keep doing what they're doing now on attempts to destroy Amtrak with the Food and Beverage deal, which is almost 1 year to go to break even!

IMHO this is one small step, but one that shows promise. Sure Amtrak could be a lot better, but a political hatchet job just for appearance is not the answer. Passenger rail is growing and so is the support, it is nice to see that many on the conservative side of the isle see that. I wish other federal programs received as much examination as Amtrak.

mp51w Wrote:
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> reindeerflame Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Yes, being able to say that you voted both ways
> on
> > a matter can be an asset.
>
>
> Yep, my conservative representative, Lynn Jenkins,
> did just that. I gotta give her credit though for
> voting no on the McClintock amendment. I hope she
> doesn't get a spanking from Heritage Action for
> that. I see only 7 other California legislators
> went along with your buddy McClintock. What's
> really incredible is, McClintock voted for the
> final bill. That's just grandstanding with his
> stupid amendment!

His neighbor, Jeff Denham in the 10th district voted no for the amendment, so on the surface, that shoots down a fun theory in the other thread about the Pets on Amtrak conspiracy. :-)

I think McClintock is volunteering to become the next California villain in Congress. It's a nice tradition to fuel anti-California sentiments across the country that is non-partisan!

GrandePete Wrote:
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> IMHO this is one small step, but one that shows
> promise. Sure Amtrak could be a lot better, but a
> political hatchet job just for appearance is not
> the answer. Passenger rail is growing and so is
> the support, it is nice to see that many on the
> conservative side of the isle see that. I wish
> other federal programs received as much
> examination as Amtrak.

Amtrak's always been in the headlines this time of year because of the claim that it's the only Government subsidized thing that doesn't make money, and that's pretty much the reason why it's the same mumbo jumbo year in and year out! Be great if one time they actually get a funding program for Amtrak and get the right people and expand the whole national network instead of just what they've been doing only thinking that's where the ridership is! Yeah that's true, but there's a lot of people who miss the trains Amtrak shouldn't of gotten rid of since 79!