On the recordMarch 3, 2015
I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, I just want to touch on a few of the great things on this reform bill. Make no mistake, this will reform passenger rail as we know it today in many different areas. First of all, we expect that Amtrak will be utilized more often in a more efficient way and in a more transparent way operating more like a business, a business that will give results back to its customers. This is going to be a bill that sets up different lines of business. So if you are on the Northeast corridor and you are paying a ticket that is high priced, you don't want to subsidize Amtrak across the Nation, your money is now going to stay on the Northeast corridor so you have not only improved infrastructure, but a smoother ride, a more efficient ride, and a quicker transit time. We want to fix rail across the Nation. We want to make sure that we are doing it in a fiscally responsible manner. On the Northeast corridor, we are going to see significant improvements and jobs created at the same time. We are going to see in other areas of the country, in areas like mine where you have got rail that we want to extend further, we want to be able to utilize RIF loans. RIF loans have been a great program that has been sorely underutilized. You talk to companies out there that want to use RIF loans, it is amazing that they won't even apply for them because they know they will slow their projects down.…
