Happening Now
Congress Signals Start for Transportation Budget
May 5, 2023
Congressional appropriations committees have announced mark-up dates for mid-May. With the House of Representatives debating 22 percent across-the-board cuts, Amtrak and transit systems are in the budgetary crosshairs.
U.S. House GOP leadership notified members of the House Committee on Appropriations this week that the subcommittee markup of the transportation funding bill will take place on May 17th or 18th, sounding the starting gun for the delayed Fiscal Year 2024 budget process. And with the House of Representatives debating a 22 percent across-the-board cut, Amtrak and transit systems are in the budgetary crosshairs.
While the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL) has introduced a new era for America’s rail passengers by providing guaranteed multi-year funding to upgrade and expand the national passenger rail network, this funding can only be used for certain purposes and was never meant to replace Amtrak's annual appropriations.
Providing sufficient FY24 funding is necessary to allow Amtrak to operate trains and restore full service, perform annual maintenance and carry out core functions to avoid long-term deterioration of assets and services, and make targeted, high-priority investments for future expansion. Critically, insufficient funding could lead to cuts to service and slow the rollout of desperately needed upgrades to equpiment and on-board service.
Join Rail Passengers' campaign to support funding for Amtrak and transit. Use our Action Center to call your members of Congress and take a stand against service cuts!
"On behalf of Amtrak’s onboard service staff, I want to thank the Rail Passengers Association for honoring their hard work with this award. The past couple years have indeed been difficult for Amtrak onboard service staff – coping with furloughs and job insecurity, adapting to changing protocols and services, not to mention the unfortunate events such as a tragic derailment and a fatal shooting. Nevertheless, our dedicated members at Amtrak have handled these hurdles with the care, attention and diligence for which they’re known. We thank Rail Passengers for their acknowledgement of our members’ hard work and, as always, look forward to seeing you on the rails."
Arthur Maratea, TCU/IAM National President
December 21, 2021, on the Association awarding its 2021 Golden Spike Award to the Frontline Amtrak Employees.
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