Candidate Positions on Amtrak/HSR

More on Santorum: Rick Santorum, as Senator, Preached the Gospel of Transit

He's gotten good feedback from APTA and the former Gov Ed Rendell. He took the T in Pittsburgh when he worked there (I love Pittsburgh). He opposed Bush' starvation budget.

Now, I'm sure many of you oppose his social policies. I offer no opinion, but since many here are prone to vote on transportation policies, I offer his own words. And, let's keep the discussion to transportation policy (we're not socialpolicies.net )

“Robust [transit] systems are also an important component of economic development,” he said. “Throughout my tenure in Congress, one of my highest priorities has been assisting those who are transitioning from welfare to the workplace…. In my home state of Pennsylvania, the cities of Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in particular have provided access to employment for thousands of individuals through the JARC program. The creation of the program has allowed Pennsylvania to provide welfare recipients and other low-income individuals an opportunity to secure and retain employment and achieve self-sufficiency.”

...

“Every State in the country has a transportation department. Why do we need a Federal transportation department?” He asked. “We need it because we have to make sure the goods that are produced in New Jersey can get to Ohio to Texas, or the goods produced in California can get to Georgia.

May I remind everyone one thing. Politicians don't usually ride public transit like an average person will. They get police escorts and stuff that rich people get.

Mbta fan wrote:May I remind everyone one thing. Politicians don't usually ride public transit like an average person will. They get police escorts and stuff that rich people get.

Ive always liked debates/interviews where candidates are asked price questions so see if they have any idea what the real world is like.

"Mr. Romney, how much the T charge these days?"

Youll see a look of terror on their face as they throw out something comically low ($.90!) or comically high ($5!)

I watch the debates to see if one candidate makes another candidate look dumb on national tv. Lol.

.
.
.
.
Whoops I forgot people makes themselves look dumb on national tv anyway.

I presume others also noted the "snipe" that Romney landed while addressing health care during the Debate last evening, which went to the effect of "well, we can have health care government operated and watch it become just like the Postal Service and Amtrak".

With the postal service losing money will Amtrak be next to cut service due to budget cuts by the feds, it doesn't help with the economy bad still.

Gilbert B Norman wrote:I presume others also noted the "snipe" that Romney landed while addressing health care during the Debate last evening, which went to the effect of "well, we can have health care government operated and watch it become just like the Postal Service and Amtrak".

You know, it's only in the last few years that the Postal Service has had real financial issue. Yes. 44 cents (or is it 45? my wife does all the mailing these days) sounds like a lot. But considering that that will get me a 1st class envelope to anywhere within the US, I think that's a great deal.

And considering I dropped a check in the mail on Wednesday and it was at my lawyer's office on Thursday, I'm impressed.

And considering the USPS has done all this without subsidy for close to 4 decades now, I'd love health-care to become just like the USPS.

difference between amtrak and mail , mail is decreasing, passenger rail is increasing .

Greg Moore wrote:You know, it's only in the last few years that the Postal Service has had real financial issue.

And it's due to extraordinarily onerous pension pre-funding requirements, which were passed quite recently. I was reading about this. The law now requires the USPS to not only prefund 100% of the pensions of its own staff, but to fund the military pensions of USPS staff members who are ex-military (which shouldn't be USPS responsibility at all). These are requirements imposed on no other government agency and on no private company, and will actually lead to a massively overfunded pension fund after a while. This seems to have been done by some Congressmen who were trying to do a hatchet job on USPS, so that they could say that USPS was "losing money". Sneaky nasty behavior. The rest of Congress seems to have let it slip through, it was a rider on some other bill.

Mitt is at it again. I guess he thinks everyone has two Caddys like his wife and plenty of gas money.

"Mitt Romney, in Lansing campaign stop, says he wants to eliminate federal funding for Amtrak"

http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf ... mtrak.html

Lots of good comments below the story.....

Gotta love it when he says:

I like those things, I just think they have to be paid for by private funds, not by funds from China,” he said, referring to the national debt.

Does Mitt not realize that the funding for Amtrak and PBS is a drop in the bucket considering what other parts of the budget are? The private sector doesn't do everything better than the government. Isn't that why Amtrak was created in the first place?? Even if Congress zeroed out Amtrak funding, it would not make a dent in the budget or the debt.

morris&essex4ever wrote: Does Mitt not realize that the funding for Amtrak and PBS is a drop in the bucket considering what other parts of the budget are? The private sector doesn't do everything better than the government. Isn't that why Amtrak was created in the first place?? Even if Congress zeroed out Amtrak funding, it would not make a dent in the budget or the debt.

While I tend to agree with you on all points, I do think it's a bit ingenious to argue, "this expense is small, so let's ignore it." If an expense is wasteful, it should be cut, even if it only makes a small dent. That said, I obviously think Amtrak is worth it.

I can't say it enough times, it is VERY important that we all know where all candidates stand and that means all of them not just for president but for senators, congress and even local candidates. IF you like passenger trains and the vast majority of us on here do, PLEASE study their statements, positions, voting records and anything else you can get and don't be afraid to ask them how they stand with regard to Amtrak. The threat is very real and if the wrong people get elected we could lose most of our passenger trains and become a third world country when it comes to transportation. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE KNOW BEFORE YOU VOTE. Thank you for your consideration.
Noel Weaver

Noel Weaver wrote:I can't say it enough times, it is VERY important that we all know where all candidates stand and that means all of them not just for president but for senators, congress and even local candidates. IF you like passenger trains and the vast majority of us on here do, PLEASE study their statements, positions, voting records and anything else you can get and don't be afraid to ask them how they stand with regard to Amtrak. The threat is very real and if the wrong people get elected we could lose most of our passenger trains and become a third world country when it comes to transportation. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE KNOW BEFORE YOU VOTE. Thank you for your consideration.
Noel Weaver

Well said Noel, well said.

Agreed. We should all join the Nat'l Association of RR Passengers- narprail.org- and it should be a much more effective lobbying/advocacy organization than it is.