Hearing Tomorrow: Tell Your Representatives to Say "NO" to Cuts to Amtrak and Mass Transit!

The House Appropriations Committee is holding a full committee markup of the Fiscal Year 2016 transportation budget tomorrow at 10:15 AM Eastern. The full committee will consider a bill drafted by the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (T-HUD) subcommittee that slashes investment in mass transit and Amtrak—while protecting subsidies for roads and airports.

Amtrak funding was cut by $262 million, transit funding was cut by $161 million, and funding for the intermodal TIGER grant program was slashed by $400 million.

[Watch a webcast of the hearing streamed live via Appropriations.House.gov]

We need your help! If this budget becomes law, Americans will be faced with more congestion, more crowding on trains, and longer delays. The U.S. transportation system will lose even more ground compared with other developed countries, hurting our ability to compete economically.

Given the discretionary spending caps put in place by the House leadership, it will be extremely difficult to change the budget numbers for passenger trains tomorrow. But Congress must hear from passengers, or they will believe it’s acceptable to cut passenger trains to save subsidies for road and air travel -- and that could be a crucial blow to our chances to get a better budget for passenger trains in the Senate!

Tell your Representative that investing in trains means investing in a prosperous America!