Passenger Trains > Is Amtrak funding held up in shutdown?

I lost track of where Amrak's very good budget for 2019 stands.

Has it been reconciled - what is the final amount - is it caught in the shutdown?

It's so hard to get information sometimes -  Anybody know?

Trains Newsweek has a summary. Amtrak will not be shut down in the short run.

http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2018/12/21-government-shutdown-will-affect-rail-agencies-national-parks

Posted from Android

Thanks, Lakawanna.

Apparently Amtrak funding WAS finalized (thank God). -- but, what was final figure - $1.9B ?

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Thanks, Lakawanna.
>
> Apparently Amtrak funding WAS finalized (thank
> God). -- but, what was final figure - $1.9B ?

But the DoT Appropriation has not passd both houses and arrived at the President's desk yet. Amtrak depends on the CR that didn't happen, and eventually the Appropriation going through.

What has happened so far is that the THUD Appropriation went through Senate, and the Hose decided that it could live with it, but they ran out of time and got entangled in various other matters and holidays etc. so it has yet to be signed into law, and the CR to fund what it covers for the time being that was passed in an amended form by the House on the 20th with the $5 billion has no chance of passing in the Senate,.

So bottom line - No Amtrak funding is not finalized in a signed appropriation yet.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/18 09:49 by Jishnu.

Which is likely why the mandate to re-establish staffing at certain stations hasn't happened as of yet. 

Please bare with me -- I'm still not clear on this.

So, let me ask it another way.

The DOT is one of the 7 agencies being held up in this Senate impasse.  Amtrak funding is included within the DOT budget.
At what level is the Amtrak funding--now contained within the DOT budget for 2019?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/22/18 12:27 by ronald321.

ronald321 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Please bare with me -- I'm still not clear on
> this.
>
> So, let me ask it another way.
>
> The DOT is one of the 7 agencies being held up in
> this Senate impasse.  Amtrak funding is included
> within the DOT budget.
> At what level is the Amtrak funding--now contained
> within the DOT budget for 2019?

Here are the numbers in the stalled DoT Appropriation:

As part of FRA:
National Network - $1.3 billion
Northeast Corridor $650 million

CRIS $255 million (Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Grant)

As part of FTA:
Transit Formula Grant $9.9 billion
Rail Transit Grant $2.5 billion
BUILD Grant $1 billion

General ground transport:
FSPSGR $300 million (Federal State Partnership for Safety and Good Repair Grant - can be for road or rail)
Restoration Grant $10 million

So bottom line is what would normally be called Amtrak grant is 1.95 billion.

However, CRIS and BUILD can be used to benefit Amtrak, and Transit Formula and Rail Transit grants may be tapped for funding parts of NEC Infrastructure that are primarily used by Transit - for example.

Sorry for giving you a long answer to a short question, but I wanted to cover as many bases as possible in a not so simple funding ballpark for passenger rail.

 

Jishu -  thank you, very much.  Exactly what I was looking for.

This is wondrful Amtrak budget!

    And the government doesn't shut down anyway. They just go home for a while and let things run by themselves. Works better that way.

It is not about the details of what "Government Shut Down" may or may not mean. What matters to continued operation of Amtrak is having enogh cash on hand to do business. Its source of cash is ticket and other revenues, and federal grants. It receives the grant money on a quarterly basis. This is the end of a quarter, so they have whatever they might have prudently not spent in the last quarter plus whetere revenue is flowing in. Hopefully that can keep them going a few months with careful trimming of expenditures for the period. What they will not be receiving apparently is the subsidy check for the first quarter calendar year 2019 until the shutdown ends, since there is no appropriation to pay that money out of at present, until either a CR is adopted or the Omnubus Appropriation is adopted.
 

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>     And the government doesn't shut down anyway.
> They just go home for a while and let things run
> by themselves. Works better that way.

They get paid later, so it's a paid vacation. Sweet deal if you're on the inside. Look for the union label.

Duna Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----y
> >     And the government doesn't shut down
> anyway.
> > They just go home for a while and let things
> run
> > by themselves. Works better that way.
>
> They get paid later, so it's a paid vacation.
> Sweet deal if you're on the inside. Look for the
> union label.

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Duna Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----y
> > >     And the government doesn't shut down
> > anyway.
> > > They just go home for a while and let things
> > run
> > > by themselves. Works better that way.
> >
> > They get paid later, so it's a paid vacation.
> > Sweet deal if you're on the inside. Look for
> the
> > union label.
>
> Posted from Android

That's true of "non-essential" employees. They go home, and get back pay in a few weeks.

But, "essential" employees have to work, and also get paid later. TSA, weather bureau, military, postal, etc are in this latter group.

"Government shut down."  More like a government slow down.  The DoD continues to be funded, and when all is said and done, national security trumps (no pun intended) all other levels of the bureaucratic conundrum we refer to as 'government."

They way our government operates in DC, shutdown or not I just shake my head on how they do things at times!

SANSR Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "Government shut down."  More like a government
> slow down.  The DoD continues to be funded, and
> when all is said and done, national security
> trumps (no pun intended) all other levels of the
> bureaucratic conundrum we refer to as
> 'government."

The DoD Appropriation has already passed and was signed a few months back. So there is no shortage of appropriated funds to keep paying the DoD bills.

dcfbalcoS1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
>     And the government doesn't shut down anyway.
> They just go home for a while and let things run
> by themselves. Works better that way.

Actually, the process in which it "Works" when there is a shut down is thanks to those everyday Federal workers who are doing their job.