Rep. Oberstar: Rail Had to Take a Back Seat to Tax Cuts
Elana Schor’s got the quotes from Representative Jim Oberstar (D-MN) that indicate that the reason rail got so little funding in the stimulus proposal is that they were cut to make room for more tax cuts:
The reason for the reduction in overall funding — we took money out of Amtrak and out of aviation; we took money out of the Corps of Engineers, reduced the water infrastructure program, the drinking water and the wastewater treatment facilities and sewer lines, reduced that from $14 billion to roughly $9 billion — was the tax cut initiative that had to be paid for in some way by keeping the entire package in the range of $850 billion.
Not good. I would also note that there are plenty of ways to do mass transit stimulus funding that have nothing to do with breaking new ground on projects and thus get around the “lag” concerns or some alleged lack of new projects. All around the country, after all, we have people paying fares to go ride on buses, commuter rail lines, light rail, and heavy rail systems. In many jurisdictions, those fares are currently rising even as service is cut back because state and local funding streams for operating costs are drying up amidst the recession. The federal government could make funds available to transit agencies—a certain amount per passenger carried in 2007—that can be used to finance fare cuts or service expansions. That’s the kind of stimulus that would be very fast acting since even though it might take some months for the money to start flowing, agencies could start planning to receive the funds right away. It would have some direct employment effect through the agencies, and would also in effect put extra money into the pockets of transit users. And since in most cities, transit is primarily used by the poor it would be a highly efficient stimulus. And also environmentally friendly.
I see no sign that this kind of thing has gotten serious consideration from the administration or from congress, which is odd considering that they claim to be searching far and wide for reasonably efficient uses of stimulus funds.
54 Responses to “Rep. Oberstar: Rail Had to Take a Back Seat to Tax Cuts”
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January 22nd, 2009 at 9:22 am
Absolutely infuriating.
It’s not like the Corps of Engineers has a backlog of shit to do or anything. It’s not like they’re only promising 1 in 100 year flood protection to New Orleans when Amsterdam has 1 in 10,000 year protection.
I’m ready for that CHANGE now…
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 am
Does Corps of Engineers funding for pretty much anything need authorization during wartime, or just appropriations?
I think it would be great if we could hire all those construction workers that the housing sector has been over-employing in their bubble and put them to work on subway, light rail, Amtrak electrification and other construction. That would make a whole lot of sense. Isn’t this sort of thing supposed to go in S. 5?
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:29 am
This is a pile of absolute bullshit, and represents a comical failure of will by the incoming Administration and those congresspeople with the good graces to understand the importance of that laundry list of items that was cut. Surely it brought a few Republicans on board though, and that’s all that matters. Hugs for everyone!
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:36 am
MY: you’ve got a captive audience of people who pretty much agree with you on rail and transit. Is there some way, consistent with nonprofit status, to give us marching orders? I’m tired of complaining, and would like to know where to sign up / make calls / contribute in an effective way.
In unrelated news, Elana Schor has been pretty much rocking the house — scooping the MSM on several significant stories, starting with the Feinstein/Panetta flap.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:36 am
Should I assume we’ll get a bold show by the GOP’s Southern Senators denouncing their states for being willing to take this federal socialist interventionist money?
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:44 am
Fuck me in the goat ass. Which part didn’t they like, the increased drinking water, or the working sewer system? And this is the freeking Democrat from Minnesota!
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:48 am
Seriously. This is ridiculous.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:52 am
wastewater treatment facilities and sewer lines
Perhaps one of our republican friends can explain how tax cuts will magically fix all of the outdated sewer and water lines in our country, one of which burst with great fanfare on River Road in Maryland last month.
In the 90s, reaction to stagnant wages was papered over by the increasing value of the stock market. Then it was financed by home equity loans and other sorts of easy access to credit. Now we’re making a bunch of tax cuts to make people think they have more money and make them feel better off. It’s all the same shell game: at some point, people need to start making more money and having more jobs.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:53 am
Apropos nothing in this post, has anyone else noticed Matt getting intellectually lazier and sloppier as the years pass? I’m pretty sure I haven’t gotten any smarter, and his analysis seems to me to be slipping.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:57 am
This is because we are a consumer economy, not a infrastructure economy or an agricultural economy. Our economy is based on having a job making things that people buy with money they got from jobs making things we buy, most of it unnneccesary junk. Rail would be awesome and will be need greatly in the near future but the “economy” doesn’t run on electric rail, it runs on Walmart.
January 22nd, 2009 at 9:58 am
Welcome to the Obama administration, where consensus trumps good policy!
Enjoy the ride, folks.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:04 am
Dude. Use the CAP insider route and pass on the ideas. They seem flexible unlike the previous administration.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 am
poor Matt. no super trains.
:<
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:07 am
Maybe the best way to do “transit as stimulus” would be to really underestimate the cost of the projects, then when the money comes through to spend it on gargantuan tunnels that go to nowhere. Then demand stimulus money when the project, predictably, comes in costing at least a third more than the original estimate.
Wait. We already tried that.
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_608273.html
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:16 am
CNF: 500 million? Hah! I used to live in Boston. We sneer at your puny $500 million tunnels.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Bravo, daveNYC!
Tough to catch a football without hands.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:36 am
this is seriously absurd in light of this: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2009/01/dot-us-vehicle-miles-driven-declines.html
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:43 am
Here in St. Louis, our mass transit system is facing a double whammy of less help from local and state government and bonds that reset, costing Metro millions more when they are already in the red. It didn’t help that an inept public campaign by Metro failed to push a quarter cent tax increase through with the voters in Saint Louis County, the very place Metro is now cutting services to.
Meanwhile, our state DOT is paying millions on revamping a highway through town that nobody wanted done, due to the fact that closures hurt businesses all along the artery.
January 22nd, 2009 at 10:52 am
Early clue was the pennies that Amtrak was allocated from the stimulus. Very disappointing.
January 22nd, 2009 at 11:18 am
This is especially unfortunate seeing as how the name “Oberstar” itself sounds plausibly like the name of a high-speed train.
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:28 pm
“the name ‘Oberstar’ itself sounds plausibly like the name of a high-speed train”
Judging by that standard, I would prefer for the sponsor to somehow be the mayor of Kansas City. His name is Mark Funkhouser. I don’t really know anything about him, except that I would certainly ride a train (or a boat, or anything) called “The Funkhouser Express.”
January 22nd, 2009 at 12:29 pm
Nuts! I was going to ask if you knew about Colorado Railcars, which made self-propelled commuter trains designed for use on existing freight lines – ideal for quickly and easily (ie, stimulus-friendly) adding transit to existing short-line rail that exists in every major city (even sunbelt ones).
But when I googled for the company, I find out they just went out of business, 3 weeks ago.
This is incredibly frustrating – the Colorado Railcar was like a silver bullet solution, perfect for this moment, and yet they’re gone.
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:03 pm
I feel like this is all happening in a vacuum. What are the job multipliers for the various forms of transit and road building?
January 22nd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
What the hell? I opened the comments thread hoping someone would be able to correct Matt’s intel, but nope, that’s really what’s going down.
Completely ridiculous – would love to hear a defense of this, ’cause right now I don’t see it. … And I want sweet trains so bad!
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:59 pm
Is there any chance it’s cut from the stimulus so as to be an entire bill unto itself when transit is so completely starved as to cause an uproar? If you think about it, there is no uproar except from the small cadre of Blumenauer/smartgrowth/urbanism fans. Is the Obama administration crazy like a fox maybe?
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