Happening Now
INVEST in America Act - Amendment Tracker
June 16, 2020
Rail Passengers has endorsed the INVEST in America Act, which would invest more than $58 billion in America’s rail network over the next five years.
As the House Committee on Transportation & Infrastructure considers amendments ahead of the June 17th markup, we wanted to share our position on the amendments we are tracking.
INVEST Amendment Tracker – Rail Passengers Association Position
Crawford 49 – OPPOSE: Eliminates Amtrak Preference Enforcement, which allows Amtrak to enforce its statutory right to preferential dispatching by initiating action before the Surface Transportation Board.
Garcia 064– SUPPORT: Creates parity between highway and transit funding.
Mitchell 064 – OPPOSE: Eliminates the Passenger Rail Improvement, Modernization, and Expansion (PRIME) Grants, an exciting new capital investment program to improve the state of good repair, operational performance, and growth of the U.S. intercity passenger rail network.
Cohen 090 – SUPPORT: Reinstates the recently eliminated dining car service on long-distance routes.
Cohen 091 – SUPPORT: Expands TIFIA financing for Transit Oriented Development by making commercial and residential development eligible for TIFIA (15% cap per year).
Pappas RR – OPPOSE: Takes $100 million per year in public funding from Amtrak’s National Network authorization amount to subsidize loans to freight and passenger rail projects.
Graves LA 122 – OPPOSE: Reduces transit formula dollars in FY22 by the amount of coronavirus relief funds the transit agency received from the CARES act in excess of 50% of what the agency received in FY2020.
"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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