UPDATE: the House passed the Energy & Water 2012 Appropriations bill Friday morning. It includes language to cut about $1b in Recovery Act passenger rail funding. The Senate and White House are unlikely to agree to the cut. And Congress is unlikely to pass the Energy Appropriations bill anytime soon; meanwhile, USDOT will continue to formalize project agreements, reducing the amount of funds subject to being cut.
Thursday afternoon House Democrats took to the floor to speak against bill language to divert assigned but unspent passenger rail funding. Republicans want the funds to pay for relief efforts caused by Midwestern floods damage. The Hill has the story: “Dems assail proposed GOP cut to rail stimulus funds“.
Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) called the effort misguided:
“It will eliminate thousands of jobs, will halt a large number of rail projects across the country and we are way behind every other nation, industrial nations anyway, and hurt local and station economies,” said Slaughter, who is a co-chairwoman of the Congressional Bicameral High-Speed & Intercity Passenger Rail Caucus formed earlier this year.”
Watch a video of several of the speeches.
Recent related stories:
Will House Cut Funding This Week For A Passenger Rail Project In Your State?
Republican Plan to Privatize Amtrak is Unconstitutional
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[...] on high-speed rail; no doubt. But it may not be a successful one. The Senate and White House are unlikely to go along with the cut, and given the gridlock in Congress over every spending bill that comes its way, a final vote on [...]