House FY 24 Budget Proposals And Amtrak

John_Perkowski wrote:On all appropriation and authorization bills this year, the House Majority is working very hard to roll the US Government back to 1928.

The conference committees will be … exciting … this year.

Why is that comment OK and what West Point posted isn't?


You either allow partisan commentary for both sides, or you don't. Moderator opinion is a contradiction of terms...

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The US house sub committee on transportation has 15 members. Even though the House is almost equal one party has nine members mostly mid US and the other party only 6 mostly east and west coast, A better allocation should be 8 and 7.

Enough non partisan?

Amtrak in budgetary items is more akin to libraries and swimming pools than it is to social security, Some items are extra, nice to have but not need to have. Those nice to have but not need to have items are where most people, including Congress, look to cut budgets, from year to year. Buying additional or newly published books can wait a year. Swimming pool hours can be cut a few hours a day. Cutting social security checks hurts people in more ways than one.

I am amazed how so many react to proposed Amtrak cuts each and every year. Yest, by the end of the year Congress funds Amtrak enough to keep it going. It survives. But along the way, every nice to have vs need to have budgetary item is securitized. I once heard the best business managers are always cutting budgets until it hurts, then they relax the cuts slightly. It does not matter what the item is, every government ptogram faces cuts every year, yes, including the defense department. More USN navy ships are sunk as budget cuts than sunk at sea. Few agemcies, if any, get all the funding they desire.

As with any government program there are many interests inside and out that want a program to end. In the Amtrak case keep it very small. Otherwise, if present LD trains are full with 13 - 14 revenue cars there will be many persons calling for more trains and routes. There is much Balkanization of this nation that says keep everything away from others. Of course, I want mine and keep mine only. Transportation is a prime example.

The latest news I’ve seen is the House Freedom Caucus is perfectly willing to allow a shutdown on 1 October.