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Transportation Committee

September 15, 2008

The Honorable Harry Reid                               The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader                                              Minority Leader
United States Senate                                      United States Senate
S-221, U.S. Capitol                                         S-230, U.S. Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20510                                  Washington, D.C.   20510

Dear Senators Reid and McConnell:

On behalf of the National Conference of State Legislatures, we write to encourage you to appoint conferees for the Amtrak Reauthorization.  Amtrak has languished without authorization and adequate funding for too long and we encourage you to act expeditiously on this legislation, particularly at a time when high gas prices and troubled airlines place greater and greater demands on intercity passenger rail service.

As the conferees reconcile the House (H.R. 6003) and Senate (S. 294) versions, NCSL believes the final bill should include the state capital grant and partnership programs that have allowed Amtrak and the states to open and maintain new and vital intercity passenger services.  We encourage the conferees to defer to the House version on funding levels, but these grants should be made available as soon as possible as these important partnerships ought not to wait until fiscal year 2009.

Thank you for your attention to Amtrak's reauthorization and this important segment of America's interstate transportation system.  If you have any questions about NCSL's policy or states' interests in intercity passenger rail, please contact Michael Bird (202-624-8686; michael.bird@ncsl.org) or Paul Snow (202-624-8683; paul.snow@ncsl.org) in NCSL's Washington office.

Sincerely,

Speaker Joe Hackney North Carolina House of Representatives President, NCSL

Senator Dennis Nolan Nevada Senate Transportation Committee Chair, NCSL

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