Key Vote YES on Eliminating Federal Subsidies for Amtrak

As one of our over 6.9 million FreedomWorks members nationwide, I urge you to contact your representative and urge him or her to vote YES on the McClintock amendment to H.R. 749. This amendment would fully eliminate federal subsidies for Amtrak.

The federally subsidized Amtrak passenger rail company has been a taxpayer boondoggle for decades. An inefficient and at times unreliable service, even billions of dollars in federal subsidies haven’t stopped Amtrak from continuing to lose tens of millions of dollars each year.

Republicans have claimed that they desire to end Amtrak funding, or at least to greatly reform it, but H.R. 749 fails to do either. Indeed, for the first several years, the spending levels are higher.

Instead of continuing to use taxpayer dollars to allow Amtrak to limp along with all of its operational problems, Congress should simply cut its losses and leave the markets to decide how or if passenger rail should operate. Private competition for rail routes is far more likely to result in better and more efficient service in those areas where there is demand for passenger rail.

Thus, I hope that you’ll tell your representative to vote YES on the McClintock Amendment to H.R. 749, to defund Amtrak subsidies. We will count his or her vote as a KEY VOTE in FreedomWorks’ Economic Freedom Scorecard for 2015. The Scorecard is used to determine eligibility for the FreedomFighter Award, which recognizes members of Congress with voting records that support economic freedom.

Sincerely,

Matt Kibbe
President and CEO,
FreedomWorks