The King of Pointland

Railroaded

Amtrak told Congress it needed $1.8 billion for the next fiscal year. A House appropriations subcommittee today approved just $580 million, less than one-third of the requested amount.

The amount, if eventually approved, would immediately shut down all long-distance and regional passenger rail systems outside the Northeast, and it is unclear how long the Northeast Corridor could operate before a shutdown.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld on Tuesday told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the occupation of Iraq is costing roughly $3.9 billion a month. For the price of fourteen days of occupation, we could fund Amtrak for the entire year.