Byron Dorgan: “I rise to talk about Amtrak. As we did last week, this morning we hear on the news that there is a proposal to shut down…”

“I rise to talk about Amtrak. As we did last week, this morning we hear on the news that there is a proposal to shut down our Amtrak rail passenger service in the middle of this week. Why? Because Amtrak needs the resources to continue and lacks them. You know, you often hear that it is so-and-so's job to keep the trains running on time. Well, it has to be somebody's job to keep the trains running, period. It makes no sense for us to be here on a Monday wondering whether Amtrak will shut down on a Wednesday. In North Dakota, we have Amtrak service; 82,000 North Dakotans boarded Amtrak last year as the trains came through and stopped at many points. I happen to think Amtrak is critically important as a part of our transportation system. Every other form of transportation is subsidized. We have people saying: Let's not subsidize Amtrak. Why not? Every other country in the world provides a subsidy for their rail passenger service. I think our country is justified in doing so to keep that rail passenger service working. The Secretary of Transportation has a plan that would virtually destroy Amtrak as we know it.”