House GOP eyes HSR, Amtrak spending cuts
Written by William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-ChiefAmtrak and high speed rail are high on a partial list of 70 spending cuts that will be included in an upcoming Continuing Resolution (CR) bill that House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) released Wednesday.
The total cuts in the CR will exceed $74 billion, including High Speed Rail, $1 billion, and Amtrak, $224 million. All reductions are compared to the President’s fiscal year 2011 request.
The committee noted that the proposed CR legislation will fund the federal government for the seven months remaining in the fiscal year “and prevent a government wide shutdown, while significantly reducing the massive increases in discretionary spending enacted in the last several years by a Democrat majority.”
President Obama is scheduled to submit his FY12 budget recommendations next week. Among 60 programs eyed for elimination by House Republicans in FY12 are the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, AmeriCorps, a $298 million program for hiring local police officers, $900 million in energy efficiency programs, $1.8 billion from the Environmental Protection Agency, and the $5 billion in high speed rail investment sought by the Obama Administration, as announced earlier this week.
