The Senate is planning to hold a hearing for a six-year transportation funding bill, but not until after the pending May 31 deadline for extending the current infrastructure spending measure.
However, it doesn’t look like much of that funding will go towards the nation’s transportation needs.
House Republicans voted to cut Amtrak’s budget by approximately a fifth, less than a day after the line’s fatal train crash that killed seven people. Democrats argue that Amtrak’s crash is a prime example of the dangers that can happen when transportation funding is shortchanged.
Republicans also rejected funding for an advanced speed-control technology that federal investigators said would have prevented the crash.
The deadly Amtrak crash has amplified the need for a long-term solution to the nation’s crumbling infrastructure, with particular attention to transit funding.
Now is not the time to be cutting rail, Democrats argued. “While we don’t know the cause of this accident, we do know that starving rail of funding will not enable safer train travel,” said top House Appropriations Democrat Nita Lowey of New York.
In addition to cutting Amtrak funding, the proposed House bill would also reduce funding for D.C.’s metro system, which experienced an incident recently where smoke filled a tunnel, causing one smoke inhalation death.
