Feel free to borrow whatever you want...

{I have edited my post to include the additional paragraph I included in my letter to the President, Senators Hutchison and Cornyn and Rep. Poe. It is the 5th paragraph}

<begin letter>
The suggested Amtrak shut-down is short-sighted, at best. Our Nation needs a rail option for our transportation needs, especially when our population reaches 350,000,000. Shutting down Amtrak is not a viable solution.

The small Amtrak subsidy should be increased by $2 billion. This would help to upgrade their equipment and add more routes to the rail system. As shown by the Texas Eagle, when the route is increased, ridership increased. Houston has 1 train option for only 3 days a week, each way. This is unacceptable for the 4th largest city in our Nation. The Sunset Limited should be increased to a daily train. We should also have an option to travel by rail to Dallas, Austin, or Brownsville.

For the people that think Amtrak should not be funded, and should be self-sufficient, I say they are hypocritical. The Federal roads are subsidized by about $34 billion, over and above the taxes we pay. Taking the “Amtrak should not be funded” point of view, the taxes we pay at the pump MUST be raised to cover the short-fall for the highways. Airline routes are subsidized by about $14 billion each year. Using the same rationale, airline ticket taxes/fees MUST be raised to cover that short-fall. Our Nation’s waterways are subsidized by about $6 billion each year. Perhaps a nationwide “boat” tax would cover this short-fall. The simple fact is that ALL public transportation is subsidized. The “Amtrak is not self-sufficient” argument is fallacious, at best.

According to our Constitution, Congress is charged with regulating commerce and maintaining post roads. Both of these functions would cover transportation between the various States, thus giving Congress the duty to maintain the transportation options in our Nation.

There are numerous people that have a fear of flying that would have their travel plans severely handicapped if Amtrak was eliminated. There is a growing number of citizens that are fed up with the inspections and hassle of flying and are looking for alternatives, such as Amtrak. These groups need a rail option for their travel plans; otherwise they would have to drive, adding more traffic to our Nation’s roads, or travel on {shutter} Greyhound.

Fully fund Amtrak. Please do not abandon our third option for mass transit between the States.

The LD's produce more revenue for their cost than the NEC and operate at higher percent of capacity. Demand exists even with disreputable service. A reputable business would invest in areas of high demand and potential, thus Amtrak should look to expanding service on the national system (see the URPA thread for supporting numbers).

We are talking about $7 per US citizen for a national passenger rail system that 70-80% of the population believes (according to polls) we need to keep.