Republican Platform vows to cut Amtrak and transit funding.

[WMAveteran]

Reported in TRAINS magazine:

Amtrak, transit targeted for cuts in GOP platformBy          Bob Johnston            Published:             August 31, 2012

This week at the Republican National Convention, the party approved platform reaffirmed presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's vow, made during the Iowa primary in January and again in an interview several weeks ago, to eliminate all Amtrak funding if he is elected in November. During his acceptance speech last night, Romney made no reference to transportation policy. "The public has to subsidize every ticket nearly $50," the platform's statement on transportation claimed, continuing, "It is long past time for the federal government to get out of the way and allow private ventures to provide passenger service in the Northeast Corridor. The same holds true with regard to high-speed and intercity rail across the country." The platform also made it clear that the party was willing to cut financial support for public transportation and other infrastructure investment because "funding the Highway Trust Fund remains a challenge given the debt and deficits and the need to reduce spending. Republicans will make hard choices and set priorities, and infrastructure will be among them." Since the 1980s, about 20 percent of transportation trust funds has gone for transit projects, and in 1991's Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, money also began to be diverted for multi-modal capital investment such as passenger rail stations and bike paths. But the trust fund became insolvent in 2008 – gas taxes have not been raised since 1993 – and has required infusions of general revenue spending of more than $40 billion since then.  However, the Republican platform firmly rejects any recalculation of the tax from a per-gallon charge to a "vehicle miles traveled" standard because "it would involve monitoring of every car and truck in the nation." Further, the platform insists that all trust fund money be used for highways. "In some states with elected officials dominated by the Democratic Party, a proportion of highway funds is diverted to other purposes. This must stop." IMHO this is tragic because the nation needs a balanced transportation system, not one that relies solely on highways.  It is already obvious that you can never build enough highways to accommodate vehicular traffic which is inherently the most inefficient form of transportation for either people or freight.  [/t]