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Boehner says Amtrak crash, funding cuts not linked

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"Asked at a news conference about suggestions by some Democrats that Amtrak funding cuts were partly to blame for the train crash on Tuesday, Boehner said, “Are you really going to ask such a stupid question?"

It's a reasonable question. Stupid answer expected.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

With an actual human in control, speeding double the speed limit with no malfunction presently discovered and brakes applied seconds prior to derailment. And 8 deaths with many injured a Democrat wants to make it political! His bad and it was a very inappropriate question!

Spending big bucks everywhere is just not sustainable. We have limits. Printing presses don't pay Amtrak, U.S. Taxpayer dollars do.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

If the accident is an effect of political manipulations, then not 'making it political' would be irresponsible.

The problem here is that as the reason for the accident is still unknown, we can't know if it's the result of political manipulations or not yet. In other words, the questioner has jumped the gun on the question.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Kind of echoes the long tirade on the crumbling infrasctructure by John Oliver on HBO's Last Week Tonight.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

So Republican spending cuts are to blame for the driver doing double the speed limit and further accelerating into a tight curve? Really? How desperate are these Democrats?

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

It's not as clear-cut as it may seem. Remember that crash in Osaka, from speeding into a curve as well? So the question to ask would be, why was that driver going that fast in the first place? Plus, there are technologies that will slow down a speeding train ahead of a curve etc. But if money is tight, of course spending money on security will take a backseat.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

“Obviously, it’s not about funding,”

Amtrak is severely underfunded, and has a huge maintenance backlog caused by budget shortfalls. Even if this particular incident is not directly caused by lack of funding, its only a matter of time. You can't take a rail company and ask it to run like a for-profit business while simultaneously mandating that it keep unprofitable routes open, the way Congress has done to Amtrak. That simply doesn't work.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Amtrak is expected to lose $340 million in FY 2015, but the House declined to cut any federal subsidies to the unprofitable rail system. While Amtrak’s routes in the northeast corridor are profitable, its long-distance routes are failing. Broun said Amtrak has seen the highest ridership in years on those long-distance routes, but still lost $587 million.

“In other words, for every passenger who traveled [on] one of Amtrak’s long-distance routes last year, Amtrak lost $122.29,” he said.

Broun also noted that Amtrak’s food and beverage service lost $73 million in fiscal year 2013, and $387 million over the last five years. He said a big reason for that is that the average salary for the 1,200 Amtrak employees in the food and beverage service is $106,000.

I'd say cut subsidies, when you have a cash cow you tend to abuse it as we see here. Let them reduce service and salaries. At an average of $106,000 a year for food service is misuse of taxpayer money. At McDonald's where the work is harder the average is probably 1/3 to 1/4 the salary from Amtrak.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Sorry, Boner, head of the Do-Nothings. Everyone sees right through the likes of you. Go back to your tanning salon.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Wasn't it Harry Reid who was doing nothing? Don't let the media guide your decisions. They want you to believe what you claim.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Our infrastructure here in the U.S. is ancient. Our sole high-speed rail line (Northeast Corridor) can only travel around 86 mph because of how aged the track is.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

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