James Oberstar: “The gentleman from Arizona first wants to cut the operating account, and then, after Amtrak is unable to operate, then…”

“The gentleman from Arizona first wants to cut the operating account, and then, after Amtrak is unable to operate, then cut their capital and debt service funds, and then, I guess, bury passenger rail service in America. He doesn't provide for a burial service, however, and we're not about to do that. This would cut the $425 million in capital and debt service grants that would go below the level recommended by Amtrak's Board of Directors, who haven't been known to be generously supportive of their own organization. It would undermine the solvency of Amtrak. The capital needs are critical to operating Amtrak, to bring it to a state of good repair and maintain it in a state of decent and good repair. The capital overhead program on rolling stock is critical to keep aging equipment in safe working order and minimize failures. You should go out sometime to the Amtrak repair facility in Indianapolis and see the highly skilled technicians who are working to repair and restore locomotives and passenger cars and the dining service cars. They are meticulous workers who are saving Amtrak hundreds of thousands and even millions of dollars a year by restoring old equipment, putting it into a good state of operation. This amendment would cut the guts out from that operation. That doesn't make any sense whatever.”