John Kerry: “The leaders are exactly right. There was a lot of passionate dialogue in our caucus last year about the High Speed Rail…”

“The leaders are exactly right. There was a lot of passionate dialogue in our caucus last year about the High Speed Rail Investment Act, and the minority leader listened to all of us very carefully. Our caucus, I must say, was united in its commitment to the notion that those of us who cared about this innovative bonding legislation needed to have some kind of response on the floor that indicated how we could proceed with this legislation. I am pleased with the commitment made by the leadership last year, and I am pleased with the quick introduction and overwhelming support for this legislation this year. I am also very grateful for the majority leader's commitment, given last December, to getting movement on this bill within the first six months of this session. As summer approaches, intercity travelers can look forward to bottlenecked highways and airports strained beyond capacity. Is it any wonder that Amtrak's ridership is on the rise? But in order to improve our ability to travel the country without delay, the Federal Government needs to provide business travelers and vacationers with a third option. At the moment, the Federal Government invests in road-building and air transportation, but only about 5 percent of our transportation budget over the last 30 years has gone to help Amtrak provide top-quality intercity rail service. We've got to do more in order to have a truly intermodal transportation network, and a large majority of this body recognizes that fact.”