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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (857290)	5/15/2015 2:08:29 PM
From: bentway	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1575984

Amtrak crash throws spotlight on funding disputes; Republicans back cuts WASHINGTON \| BY DAVID LAWDER AND DAVID MORGAN http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/05/13/us-usa-train-derailment-amtrak-idUSKBN0NY2PI20150513 ....Many conservatives have long argued for privatizing Amtrak, saying it has delivered poor service since its creation in 1971 while eating up tens of billions of dollars in government subsidies and losing money on most of its routes. Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers, a Kentucky Republican, said the panel had to make tough funding choices to stay under statutory caps for all military and domestic agency spending put in place four years ago. He said he hopes Congress can negotiate alternate savings to lift the spending caps, "but until then, we have no choice but to move forward and we are," Rogers said. Amtrak operates a rail network serving more than 500 destinations in 46 states and three Canadian provinces on more than 21,300 miles (34,300 km) of routes, with upwards of 30 million passengers per year. Amtrak reported record revenue of about $3.2 billion for fiscal year 2014, marking its fifth consecutive year of revenue growth, but still operated at a loss. One leading Amtrak critic, Florida Republican congressman John Mica, said Congress is wary about giving Amtrak more money because of past missteps by the passenger rail service, including its inability to offer a full-scale high-speed travel after billions of dollars of investment in its Acela Express service from Washington to Boston via New York. "Congress has been reluctant to give Amtrak the money because they squander it. They don’t have a plan that has milestones and can be seriously considered," Mica told Reuters. "We’re a Third World country when it comes to passenger rail and we need to look at the alternatives out there," Mica added. "... The United States remains in the Dark Ages and Amtrak runs a Soviet-style operation." 'WE FAILED THEM' Supporters contend Amtrak needs increased funding to address crumbling infrastructure and aging equipment. One of its biggest needs is the replacement of a narrow, leaky 142-year-old tunnel that twists under West Baltimore and is one of the biggest rail bottlenecks in the Northeast. But there is no funding for the estimated $1.5 billion project, and no timeline for construction. Democratic congressman Steve Israel of New York said Americans expect the government to adequately fund rail, road and air travel safety and that, with Tuesday night's derailment, "We failed them." Republicans said it was unfair to suggest the crash was the result of a lack of funding for infrastructure improvements. "Don’t use this tragedy in that way, it is beneath you," Idaho Republican Mike Simpson said in reaction to Israel's comments. Democratic congressman Peter DeFazio of Oregon said Amtrak has a massive backlog of repairs and maintenance, which at current levels of investment would take up to 30 years to get up to a state of good repair. Although the investigation was still in its early stages, officials familiar with it said on Wednesday that the rail route where the Amtrak train left the track was not governed by an advanced safety technology meant to prevent high-speed derailments. "In the Northeast Corridor, there's a need for basic rehabilitation and maintenance assistance. The system's old and it's reaching the end of its useful life, after limping along through patches," Puentes said.

To: Tenchusatsu who wrote (857290)	5/15/2015 2:37:25 PM
From: Wharf Rat	1 Recommendation Recommended By tejek Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1575984

"what happened to the $800 billion in "stimulus" that was already supposed to be spent on infrastructure?" it never existed. Only about 1/3 in direct federal spending, and only $105 B was for infrastructure. The other 2/3 was in tax cuts and grants to the states. What happened with all that is this... What happened with the projects? In town, the health clinic got a 38K solar system. There were some road projects in the county. Here's a breakdown of the spending en.wikipedia.org "How come this wasn't fixed before, even with all of the spending?" Raygun thought you could spend your money better on partying than the government could on bridges and potholes. Everybody thought it was a fine idea, so we partied instead putting money into infrastructure. Rested on our laurels.