In this editorial, the New York Times urges the Senate not to reduce the House's high speed rail budget allocation of $4 billion to $1.4 billion. Though President Obama is a prominent supporter of HSR, he supports delaying the transportation bill.
The United States lags the industrial world, and even some developing nations in building a true high speed rail network, laments the New York Times. Reauthorizing the transportation funding bill - on time, as Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar advocates, would be an excellent opportunity to secure the necessary funding to jump-start this essential program.
"President Obama noted...that high-speed rail is not some pie-in-the-sky idea. 'It's happening now,' he said. "The problem is that it is happening elsewhere."
"Despite his support of the idea of high-speed rail, President Obama has put off dealing with the national transportation bill for another 18 months. That is a delayed opportunity to move forward on an important new national transportation plan to expand public transit in much the way the Federal-Aid Highway Act did for roads more than 50 years ago."
Thanks to Bay Area Transportation News
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