Government Shutdown Looms Ahead of Holiday Travel Season

By Sean Jeans-Gail | Vice President of Gov’t Affairs + Policy

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[Updated Dec. 20th, 11:35am Eastern]

A Christmas-themed government shutdown looks likely after President-elect Donald Trump intervened in Congressional budget negotiations this week, directing his allies to reject a bipartisan budget deal that would’ve extended current funding levels through March 14th, 2025, while also providing $100 billion in disaster relief funds for states hit hard by extreme weather disasters this year.

In an effort spearheaded by Trump Administration allies Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the President-elect spiked a bipartisan budget compromise mere days before the current budget is set to expire this evening. In its place, the Trump Administration backed an alternate bill that would’ve extended current funding levels through March 2025, stripped many of the policy riders included in the bipartisan compromise, provided $110 billion in disaster relief funding, and suspended the federal debt limit through January 2027. That bill was rejected by the Republican-controlled House by a vote of 174 to 235—with 38 House Republicans bucking Trump to join Democrats in killing the bill.

It's unclear how this impasse will be resolved, with President-elect Trump insisting that a debt limit suspension be part of any budget extension—a move that current Republicans in the House and Senate have strongly opposed in the recent past.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “Without this, we should never make a deal.”

How Would a Shutdown Affect Passengers?

As we head into the busiest travel season of the year, many of our members have reached out to us asking whether their upcoming train trips will be disrupted by a government shutdown.

The simple answer: your holiday Amtrak trip won’t be affected by the government shutdown. As we’ve seen during previous government shutdowns, Amtrak will be able to use its ticket revenue and other sources of funding to keep the trains running and workers paid in the near term.

The longer answer for passengers: everything depends on how long the government shutdown goes on. Amtrak can’t operate indefinitely without receiving payments to its operations account for the Northeast Corridor and National Network. Based on prior government shutdowns, it is very unlikely that the shutdown will last long enough to affect Amtrak’s day-to-day operations. But an extended shutdown of the Federal Railroad Administration and suspension of operational dispersals to Amtrak will degrade service, while also slowing down upgrades being funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Will New Amtrak Board Members Be Collateral Damage?

One possible side effect of the chaos surrounding the shutdown could be nominees to Amtrak’s Board of Directors. On December 12, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation advanced the nominations of David Capozzi, Ronald Batory, Elaine Clegg, and Lanhee Chen to be a directors on Amtrak Board of Directors on a bipartisan basis. The four nominees still need to be approved by the full Senate before the expiration of the current Congress or their nominations will expire. With the blessing of the Commerce Committee, the vote itself is a formality. However, it’s unclear how the looming shutdown will affect limited floor time.

These nominees would bring a wealth of rail and transit industry experience, while also representing parts of the country that currently lack a voice on the Amtrak Board. The failure to advance four qualified nominees because of an unrelated political fracas— particularly one which is ultimately unlikely produce little tangible difference—would be a bitter pill to swallow for the passenger rail advocates who have been working hard to introduce new blood and new perspectives onto the Board.

At this point, these nominees are largely beholden to the larger shutdown drama. But you can still make your voice heard. Simply call your Senators and ask them to “please vote to confirm the four Amtrak Board nominees before the end of the year.”

You can use our online advocacy tool, Senate switchboard can be reached at (202) 224-3121, where an operator can connect your Senator.

Call Your Senator