Virginia Foxx: “I want to congratulate people on both sides of the aisle who have worked out a way to have Amtrak work. My family and I…”

“I want to congratulate people on both sides of the aisle who have worked out a way to have Amtrak work. My family and I travel on Amtrak every chance we get, and I believe that we need an efficient, strong, train system in the United States. I want to especially commend Ranking Member Mica and subcommittee Ranking Member Shuster for their work in pushing for private-sector initiatives. As a member of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, it's also been my pleasure to work with Ranking Member Davis on a variety of issues. I appreciate his passion for this issue, but I have to say that this amendment is eerily similar to a bill that came before that committee, H.R. 401, the National Capital Transportation Amendments Act, which summed up the largest earmark in history and would direct $1.5 billion in new Federal spending towards the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority, or WMATA. When that bill came before the committee, I raised a number of concerns, including the fact that it was not referred to or considered by the Transportation Committee.”