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MONDAY, NOVEMBER 23, 2009
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Obama Gets Rail Rolling With $8B Stimulus

Prez plots $8b high-speed train network

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(Newser) – America's railways are about to get a huge handout: At today's signing of the stimulus package, $8 billion will be allocated to high-speed rail. Though the money will be divvied up according to Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's master plan, the expansion is truly President Obama's pet project, reports Politico. "The president wanted to have a signature issue in the bill, his commitment for the future,” said Rahm Emanuel.

And signature issues were drying up; as support for school construction and modernizing the electric grid evaporated, Obama shifted his sights to the rails. But Republicans have ignored Obama’s key role, instead attacking it—and a much decried potential LA to Las Vegas line—as pork-barrel spending masterminded by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. Responds Reid, “I’m glad I get the credit in Nevada, but this is Obama’s No. 1 priority.”

In this Feb. 20, 2007, file photo, the Capitol Limited Amtrak train arrives in Washington from Chicago.
In this Feb. 20, 2007, file photo, the Capitol Limited Amtrak train arrives in Washington from Chicago.   (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, file)
President-elect Barack Obama, far right, waves from the back of a train to the waiting crowd at the Claymont Amtrak rail station as it moves through Claymont, Del., Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009.
President-elect Barack Obama, far right, waves from the back of a train to the waiting crowd at the Claymont Amtrak rail station as it moves through Claymont, Del., Saturday, Jan. 17, 2009.   (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
In this Sept. 16, 2008 file photo, then Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. arrives by Amtrak in Wilmington, Del.,
In this Sept. 16, 2008 file photo, then Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del. arrives by Amtrak in Wilmington, Del.,   (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
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The time is right now for us to start thinking about high-speed rail as an alternative to air transportation connecting all these cities. - President Obama, during the campaign

And apparently the Senate majority leader has earmarked $8 billion for a rail system from Las Vegas to Los Angeles? You have got to be kidding. You have got to be kidding. - Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mi.

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8 comments
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Snowleopard
Feb 17, 09 12:44 PM CST
Modernizing the electric grid and laying fiber optics for broad band should have been two of the top priorities. Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
airron14
Feb 17, 09 12:55 PM CST
$7.2 Billion for Broadband (http://tinyurl.com/bbtbug) and $4.4 Billion to "modernize electricity grid" (http://tinyurl.com/d5deeh)
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IN RESPONSE:
AllisonMW
Feb 23, 09 3:01 PM CST
I agree.
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PaleRider
Feb 17, 09 1:16 PM CST
There is already a fiber optic network that is more than enough to handle traffic in the US, they, Qwest Communications, have additional "Pipelines" that were laid down for future expansion that are not even being used. Reply
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Reader587
Feb 17, 09 1:38 PM CST
Try to find a US company that does rail. We have lost this business to Japan, France, and Germany. Without a product in the states, Buy American goes offshore! Reply
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