The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction—or “Super Committee”—is working on Capitol Hill to craft a bill aimed at slashing the U.S. budget deficit by $1.5 trillion or more by 2021. The U.S. Congress must pass a deficit reduction bill by January 2012 or there will be mandatory reductions across the board. Several proposals are
Read moreAmtrak, highway and transit programs would take a big hit in the proposed FY 2012 Transportation-HUD spending bill released Wednesday by House appropriators. Overall, the bill would provide $217 million less than current levels and $19.8 billion less than Obama requested. While the Transportation Department would receive a modest increase in discretionary funds, Amtrak, highway
Read moreWE ARE FACING THE MOST SERIOUS THREAT TO AMTRAK’S EXISTENCE IN MANY YEARS! Congressman John Mica, a Florida Republican, has opposed Amtrak’s existence for more than fifteen years. But now, because the Republicans won the House of Representatives in the last election, he has become Chairman of one of the most powerful committees in Congress.
Read moreThe House Committee on Education and the Workforce recently continued its partisan attack on the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) by approving a bill to prohibit the NLRB from doing its job of protecting workers and their right to bargain collectively. The so-called “Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act” (HR 2587) prohibits the NLRB from
Read moreTwenty senators seek $2.2 billion for Amtrak United States Senator Jim Webb (D-VA) and 19 other senators sent a letter to the Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development making a strong funding request for $2.2 billion for Amtrak’s intercity passenger-rail service in the fiscal-year 2012. In the letter the senators requested full funding
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