Koch Republicans Ignore Dead and Injured Americans And Vote To Cut Amtrak’s Budget

House Republicans on the Appropriations Committee put their blinders on, ignored the deaths of seven Americans and voted to cut funding to Amtrak.

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ABC News congressional reporter John R. Parkinson tweeted:

Politico reported that House Republicans went on to vote to cut Amtrak’s budget, “Democrats called this the worst possible time to chop Amtrak’s funding to $1.13 billion from its typical $1.4 billion, as called for in a House spending bill that was moving through the Appropriations Committee on Wednesday morning. The House bill would also cut half the funding for D.C.’s Metro system, which had a rush-hour meltdown just two days ago because of smoke in the tunnel connecting Washington with Northern Virginia, as well as a smoke-inhalation death in January.”

Republicans are hiding behind the sequester to justify their cuts, but this excuse doesn’t hold up because had no problem with manipulating the system to restore sequester mandated defense cuts.

Hundreds of Americans were injured, and seven people are dead. The Republican response to this loss of life is that the country can not afford to spend more money on rail safety.

House Republicans have outdone themselves on tone deafness. The Koch controlled Republican House majority has never been sensitive to the wants and needs of ordinary Americans. Gerrymandering has turned screwing over the bulk of the population into a profitable strategy for House Republicans.

At a time when the nation’s transportation networks are in desperate need of repair, Republicans are ignoring the infrastructure as it crumbles around them. It is true that the cause of the Philadephia Amtrak derailment remains unknown, but each of these accidents are a warning.

The Republican refusal to heed the warning is setting the country up for a major disaster.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association