Amtrak Crash Hits Home for Lawmakers-- Who Respond By, Yes, Cutting Funding

Firstly, this tragedy is heartbreaking because its victims could be still
here and whole if others responsible had done their jobs. Legislators
arguing over money isn't keeping anybody safe, quite the opposite.

And that title penned by Meredith Shiner was only dashed by the poster.
It's stunning this whole literal train wreck happened the DAY BEFORE
there was to be any voting at all by Congress on our infrastructure.

Add to that the reports of the black box coming back showing the train
was traveling toward a curve at over 100 MPH. I won't ask about that one,
I saw an aerial photo of the debris string-- and there wasn't even a
drunk prayer of that caboodle making the turn.

That isn't what this thread is about. You can whip out your economy
sized Lisa Ann conspiracy whiskers and Hegelian sweater dickey ruffles:
and tell me somebody caused the crash in order to scare the Congress
into voting more money into another failing privatized treasure chest.
If somebody qui bonos here, forgive him/er.. just another thread, please.

This one is about Congress doing its job, especially in the House Appro-
priations Committee. I'm not stumping for X v. Y, or who's to blame for
killing at least six people and injuring at least 150 more. That thread's
out there already. This is no rant, it's an expose' of our ineptitude at
electing people who don't just argue like lawyers (oh wait-- 70% ARE).

But just because the accident struck close to home does
not mean Congress will increase an already shrunken budget
for transportation. Just hours after the derailment, which
claimed at least seven lives and left scores more injured, the
House Appropriations Committee held an uncomfortably timed
markup of its annual transportation spending bill and moved
forward with a $250 million cut from last year’s Amtrak funding
of approximately $1.3 billion.

A little later in the Yahoo article--

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week he
would block any trade legislation until the transportation and
infrastructure bill got a vote (the Senate has filibustered opening
debate on President Barack Obama’s trade authority).
But no congressional aide could give a timetable for considering a
transportation vote. Coincidentally, this week is “National Infra-
structure Week” in Washington, and lobbyists already had descended
on the Capitol to advocate for a long-term solution to the funding
shortfall.

LINK directly to Meredith's article here---
www.yahoo.com...

I'm calling this one a talking point for the decade. Where is the body
politic at large responsible for killing itself off through criminal neglect?
Does it in fact take a major earthquake to get anything fixed around here?
And by the way Harry-- your holding your breath on Obama's new digital
trade pen and phone [getting cleared before any other business has been
addressed] just killed several people. What do you say, ATS?

I heard the guy on NPR say "we don't have a modern infrastructure like Germany and France. Our transportation is old." Wow..add that to the list of America isn't the best..When they were replacing a bridge (not long after that one collapsed in Minnesota or Wisconsin) I remember the guy on the news said "you are risking your life every time you cross a bridge in the USA..which sucks big time because I already have a phobia of bridges What the hell WHERE IS THE MONEY GOING????? Im so sick of it. We are taking a trip to Germany next year..and if we like it..we plan on trying to give up on USA and move there. Our family members live there in Hildesheim.

Infrastructure across the nation is in dire need of tearing down and rebuilding, adequate maintenance and proper oversight. This isn't an area that can be skimped on, how many more tragedies need to happen before everyone gets that?

a reply to: derfreebie

I believe they will find that a lack of funds is not what caused this disaster. The answer to every problem is not to throw more money at it. All the funding in the world is not going to end human error or ignorance. Every government agency is bloated and should have their funds cut in my opinion.

I must have been privy to later info than the 2 posts already made...

the accident appears to be human-error as the locomotive engineer powered through the CURVE at 103 mph instead of the mandated 50 mph !

All these 'BS' cries for increased 'infrastructure funds' is also 'BS' as the Muslim president Obama Hussein had already approved the 'shovel ready' infrastructure monies (at the tune of $1 Trillion) to help to re-invigorate the Economy

=== Alas all that 'shove ready' jobs on the Infrastructure was diverted (by the Administration of Hussein OBAMA) to buying Guns/Ammo/Urban Tanks by diverse agencies like the Library System purchasing Billion$ of ~illegal~ hollow-point .45 cal Ammo....
the trail of abuse of these re-directed Infrastructure Funds, by the Muslim Brotherhood agents, is public knowledge...

You.... hopefully an intelligent American-Citizen voter... just need to see through the BS about infrastructure money being needed NOW... when it was already spent over 4 years ago- but not on 'shovel-ready jobs' concerning highways or railroads-----but was wasted instead on budget increases to waste on Ammo/Arms/Armored Vehicles which will never-be-deployed or needed for use .....

impeach the lame-duck

Wait . All issues with our roads , bridges ,trains ,dams were resolved after President Obama was elected. Remember the bailout to be used for thousands of shovel ready jobs ? To be used mostly on the infrastructure of the US. That happened didnt it during one of his country saving press meetings?

Didn't we have a stimulus at the start of his first term for this already? Why weren't those funds spent to fix this track if it was needed so badly?

Also, how is a proposed cut in funding that hasn't even been made, only been debated (remember, there has been no budget since Obama took office), at fault for a crash that occurred today?

Also, the train was speeding. I don't care how new the track is. It won't save a train going more than twice the recommended speed through a curve.

originally posted by: St Udio
I must have been privy to later info than the 2 posts already made...

Uh OOO..... sorry dbl entry

edit on th31143156457913492015 by St Udio because: (no reason given)

Yes, this was a tragedy. An avoidable one it seems. Will increased taxpayer funding mean the conductors will get training in how to use the hands-free function on their Obamaphones?

"Never let a good crisis go to waste," was that it?

a reply to: Neopan100


your hitting on a point... but the end result escapes you sphere-of-thought


your EU and German environments are purely facimilies of a 'DISNEY LAND' atmosphere
(I noticed this at a recent look at the Pegnitz web site of my birthplace in a DPO Camp in Pegnitz, years ago)

the Puppet Obama... indeed the whole infrastructure rebuilding fiasco being played out is just a lead in for introducing the EU/UN agenda------------------


here's a clue !

Here are the 17 proposed Sustainable Development Goals According the UN website:

1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
2. End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture
3. Ensure healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages
4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all
5. Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls
6. Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all
7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all
9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation, and foster innovation
10. Reduce inequality within and among countries
11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
12. Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
13. Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts (taking note of agreements made by the UNFCCC forum)
14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development
15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification and halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss
16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels
17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development

the BHO pretender is just being a good soldier of the puppet masters

a reply to: Neopan100

Of course, the relative size of Germany and France and the U.S. might explain why we have the types of infrastructure that we do. Trains are far more practical and useful there than they are here as a means of casual transportation.

originally posted by: Gothmog
Wait . All issues with our roads , bridges ,trains ,dams were resolved after President Obama was elected. Remember the bailout to be used for thousands of shovel ready jobs ? To be used mostly on the infrastructure of the US. That happened didnt it during one of his country saving press meetings?

The money was approved, but in response to states rights cries the feds backed off on mandating how that money was to be spent and instead gave it to the states to spend as they saw fit. In just about every state, rather than those funds going to infrastructure improvements it was used to cover budget deficits. Less than 5% of the total was actually spent as intended because there was no oversight on it.

So we're using a train wreck that most likely has nothing to do with the infrastructure to talk about the infrastructure?

Our infrastructure is a joke. Every day I drive under bridges that have huge pieces of concrete missing from the pillars. I keep looking at the rebar wondering when one is going to come down as I go under it.

a reply to: derfreebie

I believe it has been calculated that in many close proximity commuter train scenarios, paying cab fare for every commuter for the next 25 years would be significantly cheaper and those people currently pay for that themselves or have come up with more cost effective means of transit.

"Infrastructure" means just about everything we have that isn't actually in your home.

We need newer better materials and methods, areas which government is generally incapable of delivering.

Independent private solutions may not appear where they are not equitable or fail if they do but, that is a much better allocation of resources than any plan could ever be.

a reply to: derfreebie

I remember when the cuts to our railroad system started and it was not recently but many years ago, it got worst and worst, but when tragedy strikes home that is when people open their eyes and complain about it, then the politic rats starts to point fingers to one another and the issue turns into a political circus specially in election years.

But will something be done? I doubt that.

originally posted by: marg6043
a reply to: derfreebie

I remember when the cuts to our railroad system started and it was not recently but many years ago, it got worst and worst, but when tragedy strikes home that is when people open their eyes and complain about it, then the politic rats starts to point fingers to one another and the issue turns into a political circus specially in election years.

But will something be done? I doubt that.

Yet it had nothing to do with the infrastructure .

Where's all the money from the stimulus that was suppose to do all this anyway?

a reply to: Lgbtlivesmatter

The stimulus money was spend many years ago, in my neck of the woods we got one mile of road paved, and four big city signs, I think the sign that said "this road was build with stimulus money" cost more than the pavement used for the road.

originally posted by: Lgbtlivesmatter
Yet it had nothing to do with the infrastructure .

Where's all the money from the stimulus that was suppose to do all this anyway?

Like I said before, you should ask the states. In response to criticism that the feds were stepping in with money and mandating where and what needed fixed the feds backed off and let the states have total control over where they were spending it, accepting the argument that the problems are local to the states, they know what they need. After getting the money the states did things like used the money to make up massive budget shortfalls that were a result of the 2008 recession as an alternative to raising taxes to do so. Very little of any infrastructure money went to infrastructure.

This is a case where someone claiming states rights just means it's the state of Ohio that gets to screw you rather than someone in DC. Atleast the feds would have had spending oversight on the money. Instead in the claim of smaller government the money literally just disappeared.

originally posted by: derfreebie
And by the way Harry-- your holding your breath on Obama's new digital
trade pen and phone [getting cleared before any other business has been
addressed] just killed several people. What do you say, ATS?

Well, I would argue that neither the Senate nor the House "just killed several people." It seems to me that a train operator going twice the speed he should have been killed several people.

As for funding Amtrak--it's been a long time passed since we should have privatized Amtrak. Would that fix derailment accidents like this? Well, who knows, but we've been a country long enough to know that when the federal government is in control of something, it rarely runs properly, is more expensive than it otherwise needs to be, and generally gets to a point where it needs a reset/self-destruct button pressed.