Political Quotes

“I rise to talk about the Amtrak issue. This is a very important issue to me, to my State, to Philadelphia, and the 30th Street station. It is the second busiest train station nationally, with over 3.7 million boarding a year. Amtrak and the health of Amtrak is important. In addition, we have about 3,000 employees based in Pennsylvania who are employed by Amtrak. It not only makes a difference for us from the standpoint of our communities in southeastern Pennsylvania but the employment picture as well. The continued health of Amtrak is important. That is why over the years you have supported efforts on the floor of the Senate to increase funding for Amtrak. I voted for appropriations bills as well as budget proposals. I rise in opposition to the Byrd amendment. The chairman of the Finance Committee articulated it well--that in essence what Senator Byrd wants to do is increase taxes to pay for this amendment. I cannot support hurting the economy of this country by supporting something that is important from an appropriations standpoint. I think we need to set priorities in appropriations. We have done that in the past. Amtrak has fared very well here in the Senate, and we have had support in the House to be able to get funding for this program. In fact, over the years we have increased funding. Last year the Senate version had $1.45 billion, which is obviously more than the $900 million in the current budget proposal.…”