High Speed Rail Money allocated in Stimulus Plan. Corrine Brown Delivered.

[stephendare]

In a couple of private discussions this past thursday, I was informed about this money, and in fact had the pleasure of chatting with Michael Blaylock, the JTA director shortly after his phone call with Corrine Brown letting him know that Jacksonville had gotten a chunk of the money.

Apparently this time around Jacksonville will be prepared to be a part of the High Speed Rail discussion.

I was however, disappointed to find that Representative Mica (R) voted against the money.

The article is entitled: Obama plots huge Railroad expansion.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0209/18924.html

Railroads made Chicago, and now a Chicago-rich White House wants to return the favor: remaking rail with a huge new federal investment in high-speed passenger trains.

The $787.2 billion economic recovery bill â€" to be signed by President Barack Obama on Tuesday â€" dedicates $8 billion to high-speed rail, most of which was added in the final closed-door bargaining at the instigation of White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel.

It’s a sum that far surpasses anything before attempted in the United States â€" and more is coming. Administration officials told Politico that when Obama outlines his 2010 budget next week, it will ask for $1 billion more for high-speed rail in each of the next five years.

Yet for all the high stakes, the pieces didn’t fall into place until the end of deliberations on the recovery bill. And the way in which they did is revealing of the often late-breaking decisions â€" and politics â€" that shaped the final package.

As a candidate for president, Obama spoke of high-speed rail as part of his vision of “rebuilding America.” Campaigning in Indiana, he talked of revitalizing the Midwest by connecting cities with faster rail service to relieve congestion and improve energy conservation.

“The time is right now for us to start thinking about high-speed rail as an alternative to air transportation connecting all these cities,” he said. “And think about what a great project that would be in terms of rebuilding America.”

But the administration never emphasized high-speed rail when the House Appropriations Committee was writing its bill in January, so no money was included. The first real request came only days before the Senate Appropriations panel marked up, and the committee had to scramble to find room for $2 billion â€" in part by cutting other Obama priorities.

Last week, Emanuel greatly upped the ante, asking House-Senate negotiators for $10 billion for high-speed rail â€" far more than either bill provided.

“I put it in there for the president,” Emanuel said in an interview. “The president wanted to have a signature issue in the bill, his commitment for the future.”

Emanuel himself was excited by the idea, but the decision to wager so much on high-speed rail reflected the fact that other candidates for a signature Obama issue were fading.

Moderate Senate Republicans, whose votes were needed, were resisting the president’s school construction initiative. Modernizing the nation’s electric grid, another White House favorite, seemed to have lost some of its cachet.

High-speed rail sailed through with surprisingly little attention paid to the president’s role.

The same Maine and Pennsylvania Republican moderates who had criticized Obama’s school construction initiative were more accepting of the rail funds, since the Northeast corridor has a major stake in more improvements. To help pay for the added cost, a business tax break â€" providing a five-year carry back for net operating losses â€" was narrowed to keep the focus more on smaller firms with receipts of less than $15 million.

[thelakelander]

All but three Republicans voted against the stimulus package.  From what I understand, Mica wanted more money dedicated for mass transit and infrastructure related projects than what was approved.

[fatcat]

i do agree. There are several things I do not agree with Brown. This is not one of them

[GatorShane]

i do agree. There are several things I do not agree with Brown. This is not one of them

This is great news. Even as a  liberal Democrat, she does rub me the wrong way sometimes, but you cant deny the fact that no one in Washington does more for Jax than Corrine Brown. "Corrine Delivers"

[BridgeTroll]

Mica was against the stimulus package as a whole.  Apparently they do not let you vote for just the portions you like... I remember reading somewhere that he was quite happy this piece was approved.

[kellypope]

One more incentive to stick around. This is really good news.

[Charles Hunter]

On the network news tonight (NBC) they were saying it is expected most of the Stimulus High Speed Rail money will go to a Mag-Lev link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.  How is Jacksonville a beneficiary of the Stimulus High Speed Rail money?  Or will we benefit from the subsequent package?  Either way - good news.

[GatorShane]

I like It. My only question is why did they leave that gap between Jax and Orlando? Is it something they are going to add later?

[tufsu1]

that map is based on the studies that have been undertaken in the past....the Florida High Speed Rail study in 2001/2002 looked at linking Tampa, Orlando, and Miami....thus explaining the gap w/ Jax

[Jason]

Tennessee can't be happy about being completely left out.

[Doctor_K]

If we're going on the map that Stephen provided, the whole high-speed rail thing as it's presented there just strikes me as dumb, in my admittedly uneducated opinion.

What's the point of having disparate sections of high-speed rail travel?  Why not just connect them all together? 

-- Why have Tampa-Orlando-Miami on its own, but have a terminal in Jax that connects with the rest of the East and Gulf Coasts?

--Why stop the East Coast network in Pittsburgh, only to have another one pick up in Cleveland and be spoked out of Chicago?

--Why not connect the Northwest Passage (as it were) with the California portion?

Why, why, why only do portions and have none of them connect?  That strikes me as a much larger-scale version of Jacksonville having a bus system that doesn't connect to the Skyway, and launching a commuter rail system that doesn't connect to either.

$ .02

[BridgeTroll]

Where is Eisenhower when we need him?

[FayeforCure]

All but three Republicans voted against the stimulus package.  From what I understand, Mica wanted more money dedicated for mass transit and infrastructure related projects than what was approved.

Yeah, that's right Mica voted against the creation of almost 10,000 jobs in his district alone. I guess the recession hasn't hit him hard yet. Duh.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/Recovery_Act_congressional_district_jobs_2-17.pdf

In fact the ALL 15 Republican congressmen voted against a total of almost 150,000 jobs.

Luckily for us, we have 10 Democratic Congressmen who voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act aka the Stimulus.

Here is how rail funding is expected to be allocated:

Passenger and Freight Rail Programs

The conference agreement provides:

$8,000,000,000 for high-speed rail corridors and intercity passenger rail service. Funds are allocated by DOT between the Capital Assistance to States program and a new High Speed Passenger Rail program.

Projects do not have to be in a state rail plan and there is a 100% federal share.

DOT will submit a strategic funding plan within 60 days and issue interim guidance covering grant terms, conditions and procedures within 120 days.
$1,300,000,000 for AMTRAK instead of $800,000,000 in the House and $850,000,000 in the Senate. Of the total funds, $450,000,000 is for capital grants for security improvements. No more than 60% of the remaining funds shall be spent for capital improvements on the Northeast Corridor.

http://t4america.org/news/archives/672

[FayeforCure]

Ooops, that should read: In fact the ALL 15 Republican congressmen voted against a total of almost 150,000 jobs.

Mica's shenanigans are well documented in many blogs the past few days, though it's pretty much standard operating procedure, of course. Oppose the bill viciously, vote against it, then show up at every ribbon cutting in the district paid for by federal funds.

They generally get away with it just because there aren't enough people out there to connect the dots on them, and maybe not enough people who care even if someone does.

Now This Is Political Chutzpah
Category:
Posted on: February 19, 2009 9:37 AM, by Ed Brayton

Vote against the stimulus bill because it was loaded with pork barrel spending AND put out a press release taking credit for those provisions in the bill that benefit your own state. No, seriously.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/62181.html

Rep. John Mica was gushing after the House of Representatives voted Friday to pass the big stimulus plan.
"I applaud President Obama's recognition that high-speed rail should be part of America's future," the Florida Republican beamed in a press release.

Yet Mica had just joined every other GOP House member in voting against the $787.2 billion economic recovery plan.

But nowhere in the Mica Press Release was any mention that he opposed the bill.

Harclerode wasn't sure why Mica didn't mention his opposition. "It's not really secret," he said. "I guess it just wasn't the focus."

But a Florida Congressman can't hold a candle to one from Alaska when it comes to the pure hypocrisy of opposing earmarks while proposing them (yes I'm looking at you, Sarah Palin):

But Mica wasn't alone in touting what he saw as the bill's virtues. Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, also had nice things to say in a press release.
Young boasted that he "won a victory for the Alaska Native contracting program and other Alaska small business owners last night in H.R. 1, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act."...

Yet later in the day Young -- who recently told McClatchy that he would've included earmarks, or local projects, in the bill if it had been permitted -- issued another statement blasting the overall measure.

"This bill was not a stimulus bill. It was a vehicle for pet projects, and that's wrong," he protested.

Hilarious.

http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/2009/02/now_this_is_political_chutzpah.php

[thelakelander]

Since rail is not a priority of the State, how much of this do we think will make it to Florida?