New RNC chief, GOP to take aim at HSR, Amtrak spending

The budget hawks have prevailed in the latest congressional elections and the Republican National Committee just voted Reince Priebus their chairman. This is all bad news for both high-speed rail and passenger rail projects.



Priebus was formerly the chairman of the Wisconsin Republican Party, and successfully backed anti-rail candidate Scott Walker into the governor's mansion. In recent weeks Walker nixed Wisconsin's plans for an $810 million federally funded high-speed rail line between Chicago and Madison citing budget concerns. Priebus is likely to follow suit and make targeting transportation funding a party policy.

In Ohio and New Jersey Republican governers have also rejected important high speed rail projects that would have brought their states closer to a 21st century transportation system.

In the past, the Republican Party has been a staunch opponent of Amtrak, making repeated attempts to drown it like a 'baby in a bathtub'. Now GOPers, uninterested in long term budgetary fixes like raising the retirement age or making significant defense cuts, are targeting discretionary spending as a good place to save a few bucks - never mind that transportation and other discretionary spending make up an insignificant amount of the federal budget - less than 1% annually.