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Biden Announces $53 Billion Rail-Funding Plan

Arnold

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Biden Announces $53 Billion Rail-Funding Plan
By JARED A. FAVOLE And JOSH MITCHELL

WASHINGTON - Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a $53 billion plan Tuesday to upgrade and build intercity passenger-rail networks.

Mr. Biden, along with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, announced the plan at Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. The six-year program is designed to give 80% of Americans access to passenger-rail service within 25 years???a goal President Barack Obama set in his State of the Union Address???and to create jobs.

Speeding Up

"In a global economy, we can't forget that infrastructure is also the veins and the arteries of commerce," Mr. Biden said. He frequently travels between his home state of Delaware and Washington on Amtrak trains.

The administration has already devoted $10.5 billion to passenger-rail programs, with the bulk of the funds going toward California and Florida high-speed rail projects that are currently in the planning stage.

Under the new plan, the administration would provide $8 billion for passenger-rail projects in this year's budget, set to be released next week.

The plan faces hurdles, including how future funding will be paid for and whether it can gain enough support in Congress. Republicans have criticized rail projects as wasteful spending and have called for canceling rail construction as part of a broader plan to reduce the deficit.

Rep. John L. Mica (R., Fla.), chairman of the House Transportation Committee, and Rep. Bill Shuster, a Pennsylvania Republican who chairs the Railroads Subcommittee, criticized the rail plan.

"Government won't develop American high-speed rail. Private investment and a competitive market will," Mr. Shuster said in a statement. Mr. Mica said the administration should focus its efforts on the Northeast Corridor, the most congested area for railway travel, rather than on other "marginal projects."

New Republican governors of Ohio and Wisconsin recently returned federal funds for rail projects because of cost concerns. Florida's new Republican governor has said he is reviewing whether plans for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando are viable.

The White House has argued that, as the economy slowly recovers, it is too early to press the brakes on all spending. "We all agree we need to cut spending to get the deficit under control," Mr. Biden said. However, he added, "When it comes to jobs, there are three key places where we cannot compromise. We cannot compromise on education, innovation or infrastructure."

Biden Announces $53 Billion Rail-Funding Plan - WSJ.com
 
'Bout time this administration spent some money.
 
at least the Obama administration is trying to spend money that will benefit OUR country.

the US infrastructure is crumbling, we are actually decades behind on keeping up with this...it will cost us dearly in the future if more isn't done

I have about a dozen buddies in PA that work in the rail lines, none of them ride the train due to safety concerns.
 
the US infrastructure is crumbling, we are actually decades behind on keeping up with this...it will cost us dearly in the future if more isn't done

I have about a dozen buddies in PA that work in the rail lines, none of them ride the train due to safety concerns.

That doesn't make any sense. Even with growing safety concerns, trains are far more safe than cars. I still love my car, and would despise riding a train to work.
 
That doesn't make any sense. Even with growing safety concerns, trains are far more safe than cars. I still love my car, and would despise riding a train to work.

I never really asked them about that in detail but obviously they know things the general public does not. I guess it was a non-issue to me, think I may have ridden the R5 in Philly maybe 5x in my whole life
 
This is great, love to see us investing in infrastructure more. We are way behind and need to start building more. This is a good use of money.
 
YouTube - Randal O'Toole discusses High Speed Rail

"High-speed rail may sound like a good idea. It works, and reportedly even makes a profit, in Japan and France. If they can do it, why can't we?

A look at some proposed projects gives the answer. Take the $2.7 billion, 84-mile line connecting Orlando and Tampa that incoming Florida Gov. Rick Scott is mulling over.

It would connect two highly decentralized metro areas that are already connected by Interstate 4. Urban scholar Wendell Cox, writing for the Reason Foundation, found that just about any door-to-door trip between the two metro areas would actually take longer by train than by auto, and would cost more. Why would any business traveler take the train?"



Read more at the Washington Examiner: High-speed rail is a fast way to waste taxpayer money | Michael Barone | Politics | Washington Examiner
 
I never really asked them about that in detail but obviously they know things the general public does not. I guess it was a non-issue to me, think I may have ridden the R5 in Philly maybe 5x in my whole life

That shows how much you care about your carbon footprint. You must be one of those right-wing teabaggers that are trying to destroy our planet.
 
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I wonder if this is one of those shovel ready jobs that the $787b we borrowed from China two years ago was supposed to have paid for. It's getting closer to 2012, so perhaps it is about time for the other half of that $ to be spent on putting some people back to work and bringing the unemployment rate down some, if only temporarily.
 
I think 1 big problem is the size of the country, france and japan is like 1 10th of US, and not sure about the weather conditions central US gets to much snow and temperature levels can be to low for a safe travel at 200 miles an hour.
 
I think 1 big problem is the size of the country, france and japan is like 1 10th of US, and not sure about the weather conditions central US gets to much snow and temperature levels can be to low for a safe travel at 200 miles an hour.


Bingo.

It's too frackin late in 99% of the country to implement something like high speed rail because the cities and suburbs have been built already. Had we done something like this in the 70's or 80's we could have built entire cities around the rail lines. At this point this is nothing but pork projects for unions and special interests. Sure it sounds good to say we are fixing our dilapidated infrastructure but in reality look at how many 2 and 4 lane bridges we can rebuild for what this multi-billion dollar rail boondoggle in Florida is going to cost. Anyone here live in FL? I have before and people are leaving FL in droves. The only industry in FL is low paying tourism and drug/illegal alien trafficking, which is why 18 wheeler after 18 wheeler dead heads out of FL.

Oh, I left out the best part. This country is all but bankrupt and we are 14+ TRILLION in debt and the debt climbs astronomically every day.

Take a look at this and tell me how many more trillion dollars DC needs to print then waste:

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Speaking of Obama's Porkulus Bill remember that $4000 cash for clunkers? That cost the taxpayer $24,000 per car! Tell me how bad we need the government spending our money (money we print BTW) right now.

Also, here's something the majority of the population knows but our gov't won't admit: Businesses create jobs, not government spending.
 
Bingo.

It's too frackin late in 99% of the country to implement something like high speed rail because the cities and suburbs have been built already. Had we done something like this in the 70's or 80's we could have built entire cities around the rail lines. At this point this is nothing but pork projects for unions and special interests. Sure it sounds good to say we are fixing our dilapidated infrastructure but in reality look at how many 2 and 4 lane bridges we can rebuild for what this multi-billion dollar rail boondoggle in Florida is going to cost. Anyone here live in FL? I have before and people are leaving FL in droves. The only industry in FL is low paying tourism and drug/illegal alien trafficking, which is why 18 wheeler after 18 wheeler dead heads out of FL.

Oh, I left out the best part. This country is all but bankrupt and we are 14+ TRILLION in debt and the debt climbs astronomically every day.

Take a look at this and tell me how many more trillion dollars DC needs to print then waste:

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

Speaking of Obama's Porkulus Bill remember that $4000 cash for clunkers? That cost the taxpayer $24,000 per car! Tell me how bad we need the government spending our money (money we print BTW) right now.

Also, here's something the majority of the population knows but our gov't won't admit: Businesses create jobs, not government spending.

I would love to know how giving someone $4000 for a shitbox cost each taxpayer $4000. Either each person bought 6 cars, or they borrowed the money at 500% interest. If you factor in the taxes collected on the sale and the income tax taken from the people selling the car as well as the corporate tax on the dealership, you could have gotten a better deal from a loan shark in Camden.
 
I would love to know how giving someone $4000 for a shitbox cost each taxpayer $4000. Either each person bought 6 cars, or they borrowed the money at 500% interest. If you factor in the taxes collected on the sale and the income tax taken from the people selling the car as well as the corporate tax on the dealership, you could have gotten a better deal from a loan shark in Camden.


It didn't cost each taxpayer $4000. The rebate to the car buyer was $4000/per car but once the gov't fucked things up it cost the taxpayers $24,000/per car sold under cash for clunkers.
 
It didn't cost each taxpayer $4000. The rebate to the car buyer was $4000/per car but once the gov't fucked things up it cost the taxpayers $24,000/per car sold under cash for clunkers.

Edmunds got that number by dividing cars sold by the cost of the program. That does not take in to account revenue generated by all of the taxes associated with the program. I'm not saying it was a good use of money, it wasn't. There was no way of determining if the car traded in had worse mpg than the one purchased, it didn't really do anything "green". I thought it was a stupid idea then, and I still think it was, but there is no way that math is right.
 
That shows how much you care about your carbon footprint. You must be one of those right-wing teabaggers that are trying to destroy our planet.

considering that I lived in the suburbs there was no reason for me to take the train into the city, I never worked there. I took the train to the city 5x for each of the 5 years I went to the pub crawl on St Patty's day.
 
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