The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“AMTRAK” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Transportation was published in the Senate section on pages S5941-S5942 on June 24, 2002.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
AMTRAK
Mr. CORZINE. Madam President, I rise to reinforce some of the dialog we have had on the floor with regard to Amtrak. This is a major economic issue for our Nation--not just the Northeast corridor.
We have enormous numbers of interconnected elements of our economy which are dependent on the functioning of inner-city rail transportation, and certainly in the Northeast corridor where I come from, the most densely populated State in the Nation. There are almost 300,000 commuters a day using Amtrak or Amtrak-related facilities that move in and out of Penn Station and the New York metropolitan region. There are 82,000 daily commuters in New Jersey traffic.
These folks are involved in the financial affairs of this Nation. We are going to create havoc in operations in our metropolitan regions of New York City if we have a shutdown of this highway transportation. I think it is absolutely essential that we get long-term Amtrak reform.
What I want to speak about tonight is that we need not create a crisis with a short-term shutdown, which is going to impact an enormous number of innocent bystanders, to get to long-term reform. The President, the Transportation Department, and the Congress need to sit down and put together a long-term plan with regard to how we are going to reform Amtrak.
I don't think it should be done at the expense of a part of our country that is already suffering. It would spread across the country and undermine the confidence of our already shaken economic expansion. We have seen enormous erosion in a whole series of different levels--
the stock market being the most obvious reminder, but at levels that are approaching where we were right after September 11. It strikes me that we don't need to throw another log on the fire and undermine the economic security of our Nation.
That is why I think we need to have a short-term solution with loan guarantees, with the administration and Congress working together to implement a solution to keep this railroad running. We don't need a train ride. What we need to do is make sure we are supportive of our economy.
I am very fearful that if we don't move forward with this short-run solution, we may never get to the long-run reform of Amtrak, which will be deteriorating substantially in the interim while it is shut down.
Let me give you two facts. It costs $50 million to shut this entity down and $200 million to keep it running for the remainder of the year. It would cost almost $1 billion to bring Amtrak back and operating if it were shut down. That is on a nationwide basis.
I think that is too much of an investment to make in a risky proposition of getting to reform without the kind of debate we have had. I hope we can do that on a thoughtful, measured basis in the days and weeks ahead in this 107th Congress. I don't think it should be formulated on the basis of a crisis brought about by a temporary shutdown.
I want to make sure that I am registered very strongly for the people of New Jersey, for the people of the metropolitan New York region, and for the Nation in support of our economy by making sure that Amtrak continues to run until we have a thoughtful, long-term solution.
I thank my colleague from Arizona. I appreciate it. I hope I stayed under 4 minutes. I will come back on another day.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senator from Arizona is recognized.
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