Date: 1990-06-25
Speaker: THOMAS A. LUKEN (democrat)
Chamber: H

Mr. Speaker. we are here today again to consider the Amtrak reauthorization bill. Similar legislation has been overwhelmingly approved several times by the Members of this distinguished body. Last fall. the Members of theHouse voted 296 to 93 in favor of the Amtrak bill which I introduced last year. Last month. we voted by a margin of 322 to 93 to approve the conference report which had been worked out with Members of the other body. But unfortunately. the President decided to veto the agreement because it contained a provision which clarified the Interstate Commerce Commissions authority to review the proposed acquisition of a major railroad by a nonralroad. Despite the Presidents opposition to the ICC provision. the Members of the House voted a few days ago to override the Presidents veto by a vote of 294 to 123. But we fell two votes short in the other body and thebills passage was thus short circuited. Last week. I introduced HR. 5075. the Amtrak Reauthorization and Improvement Act of 1990. This bill is basically the same bill which the House has approved several times. But this bill does notI repeat. It does notcontain the provision to which the President objected. It sets forth authorizations for Amtrak through fiscal year 1992. These levels of funding will enable Amtrak to buy new equipment which It desperately needs. as well as allowing Amtrak to upgrade its maintenance program and to improve its overall service. The bill also contains a provision which will give the green light to commuter railroad operations in northern Virginia. In consultation with members of the Judiciary Committee. as well as Members of the other body. we were able to craft a provision which will Provide the necessary incentives to allow the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission to initiate commuter rail operations from Manassas and Fredericksburg into the District of Columbia. With passage of this bill. this needed service will soon become a reality. The bill will reduce Amtraks operating costs by $16 million by directing Amtrak to make certain payments based on its actual employment data. Other provisions will allow for the improvement of freight and passenger rail operations throughout the country. The bill prevents double taxation of transportation employees who work in more than one State. This bill also directs Amtrak to study expanding and rerouting its operations if such service has the potential of covering its own costs. Finally. the bill requires Amtrak to report to the Congress next year on its plan to eliminate all Federal subsidies by the year 2000. Mr. Speaker. I believe the Members of this body are by now intimately familiar with the provisions of this bill. When we considered the Presidents veto of the bill 2 weeks ago. Mr. Bush sent a letter to the distinguished minority leader of this body. That letter. dated June 6. 1990. emphasizes that the only reason he vetoed the bill was because of the ICC provision. The letter states. and I quote. that "I would sign an Amtrak reauthorization identical to H.R. 2364. but without the ICC provision." Well. Mr. President. we have struck the offending portion of the bill. While more than twothirds of the Members of this body have gone on record to disagree with your position. we believe the remainder of the bill is far too important to allow our differences to affect its passage. I am confident that the Members of this body will once again signal their approval of this legislation and we look forward to seeing your signature on the bill in the next few days. I trust that the Presidents explicit statement that he will support this Amtrak reauthorization bill signals a 180degree turnaround in the administrations position toward Amtrak. For several years now. the Congress has had to fight the administration every step of the way to .keep Amtrak on track. Year in and year out. we have listened toand rejectedarguments that Federal funding for Amtrak should be zeroed out or even that the system should be sold. But the vast majority of the Congress knows the value of Amtrak to our national transportation system. We know that Amtrak is paying more and more of its own way. We know that Amtrak now covers over 75 percent of its costs while it receives only half of the real Federal dollars It got 10 years ago. We know that Amtrak has done a better job of increasing its revenues and holding the line on its costs than any other national rail passenger system in the world. We know that rail travel is kinder and gentler to our environment than other forms of transportation. And we know that we have dedicated a mere pittance of our transportation resources to Amtrak in comparison to the billions of dollars which we regulaxly pour into our highways and airports. So we hope that the Presidents signature on this bill means that we can look forward to working with the administration from here on out to continue the excellent progress Amtrak has made during the past decade. I commend the chairman and ranking minority member of the full committee. Mr. DiNGE.L and Mr. LENT. for their leadership in crafting this measure. I also commend the ranking minority member of our subcommittee. Mr. WHrrrxm. for his tireless efforts to enact this bill. I also wish to commend Mr. Boucnzi. Mr. BLuEY.. Mr. SwxnT. Mr. TAUKE. Mr. SLATTERY. Mr. MAD0GAN. Mr. MAZTON. Mr. Sn AP. and others who have played an active role in bringing this measure to fruition. Finally. I wish to commend pur colleagues from the other bodyin particular Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. ExoN. and Mr. ROBswho have worked diligently with us to enact this needed legislation. Mr. Speaker. I urge my colleagues to support this measure. Mr. Speaker. I reserve the balance of my time.