Elections could bring changes for transportation agencies
If House Democrats eke out a slim majority in the next Congress, it could spell better news for public transit, including Amtrak, as well as tough new standards for the way the Army Corps of Engineers justifies the estimated economic benefits of its waterway projects.
Transportation and Infrastructure Committee ranking member James Oberstar of Minnesota would become chairman and preside over a full plate of issues that he believes need more attention-and money-than Republicans have provided. His first priority, an aide said, would be "relief for airline workers adversely affected by the 9-11 disaster." Congress already has passed a multi-billion dollar bailout for the airline industry as a whole, but largely ignored the immediate financial and job-retraining needs of thousands of laid-off workers.
After that, the committee would focus on separate bills reauthorizing the funding for highways and airports, along with reform of the Army Corps' economic analyses. Critics complain that the Corps' computations are weighted too heavily for purported economic benefits-and too lightly for environmental damage.
In addition, Oberstar would push for a $1.2 billion federal payment to Amtrak, the rail passenger service, which he believes would be "sufficient capital both to continue operations and to work on railbed and tunnel repairs as well as maintaining rolling stock," the aide said. The GOP-controlled House, heeding the wishes of President Bush, called for $521 million for Amtrak. The Democratic-controlled Senate appropriated the $1.2 billion that Oberstar wants.
Over the longer run, Oberstar is intent on expanding high-speed rail service along six or seven heavily traveled inter-city corridors to ease highway congestion.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y., who would chair the Railroads Subcommittee, would press for reform of the federal Surface Transportation Board to require sharing of terminals, track routes, and switching and to require a railroad to quote rates for other rail users between any two points on a system.
If Republicans win back the Senate, Commerce ranking member John McCain, R-Ariz., would reclaim the committee chairmanship, with Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Gordon Smith, R-Ore., (assuming Smith wins re-election next Tuesday) in charge of the Aviation and Surface Transportation subcommittees, respectively.
Though both Hutchison and Smith are friendly to Amtrak's pleas for more resources, McCain is adamant that the passenger line slash or eliminate its long-line routes and undertake major management reforms to operate more efficiently.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., would likely become chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Although he is one of Congress' more conservative members when it comes to spending, Inhofe has generally supported additional money for highways and airport construction. Indeed, the Senate-under both Democratic and Republican rule-has been more generous in recent years than the Republican-controlled House in ponying up money for highways and airports.
Most recently, for instance, House appropriators shot down Democratic bids to hike spending for both highways and Amtrak-blocking amendments to increase highway outlays by $4.1 billion and Amtrak spending by $438 million. Senate appropriators had earlier approved, by a bipartisan vote, an $8.6 billion increase in highway funds and almost $700 million more for Amtrak.
The $8.6 billion compensates for a steep dip in federal gasoline taxes that pour into the highway trust fund, which is set aside explicitly to pay for the federal share of road construction and maintenance. Oberstar, along with fellow Minnesotan, Democratic Rep. Martin Olav Sabo-who would become chairman of the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee-have both called for elevating the highway-spending "baseline" by $8 billion to account for the slump in gasoline taxes.
On the Senate Environment and Public Works Transportation subpanel, Sen. Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., would be chairman if that body switches to GOP control. Although he voted earlier this year to support additional money for Amtrak, he also made it clear that he would insist on scaling back the passenger line's far-flung system and imposing tighter management and cost controls.
"We can't just give Amtrak a blank check," he said. "It gets spent and things don't get better."
Bond also has groused about Missouri being "short-changed" by the highway trust fund's state-by-state allocation formula. But that is a widely shared sentiment by many members of both parties, and is inevitably hashed out in agonizing detail when the highway policy bill is renewed every few years-as it will be next year.