Cord Byrd: “my amendment provides an additional $1.3 billion above the underlying bill for needed security funding for our transit…”

“my amendment provides an additional $1.3 billion above the underlying bill for needed security funding for our transit systems, intercity rail, freight rail, and intracity buses for a total of $1.4 billion. The funding levels I am proposing in this amendment are based on two bipartisan rail security authorization bills, S. 2273 and S. 2884, which passed the Senate last October. Public transportation is used nearly 32 million times every day, 365 days a year. Thirty-two million times a day is 16 times more than travel on domestic airlines. How about that. According to the Government Accounting Office, nearly 6,000 agencies provide transit services through buses, subways, ferries, and light rail service to about 14 million Americans every weekday. Amtrak, while serving nearly 500 train stations in 46 States, carried an all-time record of ridership of 25 million passengers in fiscal year 2004. Freight rail consists of more than 140,000 miles of track over which nearly 28 million carloads move annually, including over 9 million trailers and containers and $1.7 million carloads of hazardous materials and hazardous waste. Yes, only 2 cents--get this now, 2 cents. My colleagues have heard the expression, ``I want to get my 2 cents' worth.'' Well, only 2 cents on every transportation security dollar in this bill--can you believe it? Only 2 cents on every transportation security dollar in this bill goes to transit or rail security. Can you believe that? Two cents.…”