Amtrak

Amtrak

U.S. Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., gives his "Porker of the Week" award to Amtrak for expecting Congress to continue to support its operations.

Amtrak sought $1.8 billion in the fiscal year 2006 Transportation Appropriations bill.

"At some point, Congress needs to stop coddling Amtrak. We continue to provide funding for Amtrak when it has proven time and again that it can't run its business in a responsible way.

"Amtrak has a history of mismanagement, irresponsible investments and a backlog of service problems.

"The federal government is pumping millions of dollars into a system that has very little chance of reviving, let alone functioning on its own.

"It is unbelievable that Amtrak continues to expect more and more money when they can't manage what they've already been given. Taxpayers are being forced to supplement a system used by very few Americans.

"The federal government provides about $304 per passenger from Los Angeles to Orlando, $290 per passenger from Chicago to Los Angeles, $179 per passenger from Chicago to San Francisco, and the list goes on. This is money on top of the income generated from the customer's ticket price. It would be cheaper for the federal government to shut down those routes and buy a round trip airline ticket for each passenger to the same destination.

"Congress gave Amtrak a second chance to become profitable and they haven't. Now we have to be tough.

"Amtrak has become an enormous drain on taxpayer dollars and it's time this wastefulness come to the end of its line."

http://www.house.gov/apps/list/speech/co05_hefley/pk050630.html