Frank Lautenberg: “I am happy to yield to our colleague from Arizona. Mr. McCAIN. First of all, I thank the Senator from New Jersey for his…”

“I am happy to yield to our colleague from Arizona. Mr. McCAIN. First of all, I thank the Senator from New Jersey for his advocacy and his strong and heartfelt support about the need for a viable railway system in the Northeast and around America. There has been no one in this body who has been more committed to that proposition than the Senator from New Jersey. I congratulate him. As I said before, we will miss him very much in this body. I would like to make one additional comment, if I may, to the Senator from New Jersey. We will go through a regular process next year to bring up an authorization bill for Amtrak which would then be followed by appropriations. I objected to an appropriation this year because it was $10 billion over 10 years stuck into an appropriations bill for which there had never been a hearing. I hope the Senator from New Jersey can understand that. The second point is, I urge the Senator from New Jersey to consider that we have to make a fundamental choice about the national rail system in America--not just an east coast rail system but a national rail system. There are many countries in the world, including European countries, that regularly subsidize their railway systems. I understand that. I don't dispute it. Perhaps that decision has to be made in the United States of America and in the Congress of the United States with the cooperation of the administration.…”