Cato Daily Dispatch for November 3, 2003
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Lawmakers Haggle Over Amtrak BudgetSenate Poised To Approve $87.5 Billion for Afghanistan and Iraq
Helicopter Downing Kills 16 U.S. Soldiers
Lawmakers Haggle Over Amtrak Budget
"Washington lawmakers are haggling over next year's budget for passenger rail. They could force Amtrak to shut down, allow it to limp on while deferring important maintenance, or cover its needs. The right choice -- covering its needs -- is clear," according to an editorial in The New York Times. "But Amtrak is vulnerable because unlike all other intercity transportation, rail does not have a trust fund with a steady stream of public funds."
"This is more than a little shortsighted. The development of high-speed trains along a few heavily traveled corridors is crucial in the long term to alleviating highway and airport congestion. But neither the Bush administration nor Congress has a realistic vision for pursuing this goal."
According to a Cato Policy Analysis, "Help Passenger Rail by Privatizing Amtrak," by Joseph Vranich, a former member of the Amtrak Reform Council, and Adjunct Scholar Edward L. Hudgins, "most Amtrak trains outside of a few high-density, short-distance corridors are a throwback to days gone by. The railroad does not now contribute much to America's mobility, and its future plans, although expensive, spell more of the same. History is clear that increasing subsidies to Amtrak will not solve Amtrak's problems. The nation must create a public-private rail franchise program and eliminate disincentives to private companies that may be interested in taking over promising Amtrak routes."
Senate Poised To Approve $87.5 Billion for Afghanistan and Iraq
"The Senate is preparing to give final congressional approval to an $87.5 billion measure for Iraq and Afghanistan, a package that largely mirrors a plan President Bush requested eight weeks ago," The Associated Press reports.
"Senators planned to approve the enormous package on Monday by a voice vote, underlining the political sensitivity of the package. Lawmakers are eager to endorse a bill that is mostly for American military operations, but some of them don't want to be seen as endorsing Bush's post-war Iraq policies."
In "Iraq: Exit Rather Than Spend," Charles V. Peña, director of defense policy studies, writes: "Now the safety of U.S. troops -- rather than defending America's national security -- has become the primary rationale for staying the course. But if troop safety is the driving concern, there is an obvious alternative to piling $87 billion on top of the earlier $75 billion Iraq war supplemental appropriation and continuing to expand a $400 billion budget deficit. The answer? Withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq."
Helicopter Downing Kills 16 U.S. Soldiers
"Targeting Americans with new audacity, insurgents hiding in a date palm grove shot down a Chinook helicopter carrying dozens of soldiers heading for home leave Sunday, killing 16 and wounding 20 in the deadliest strike against U.S. forces since they invaded Iraq in March," The Associated Press reports.
Witnesses said the attackers used missiles -- a sign of the increasing sophistication of Iraq's elusive anti-U.S. fighters. Two days before the attack, Iraqi insurgents warned of new attacks using "modern and advanced methods."
In "Leave Iraq as Soon as Possible," Director of Defense Policy Studies Charles V. Peña writes: "The problem with Iraq -- and all nation-building efforts -- is the natural desire to get it 'right,' which is a prescription for endless occupation. And the cruel irony is that the longer the United States stays, however well intentioned and noble the motive, the more Iraqis will come to resent a foreign occupier. The guerrilla-style tactics being used to pick off U.S. and British troops may only be the tip of the iceberg. The lesson should be clear: The United States must leave Iraq at the earliest possible opportunity."
Jonathan Block, editor, jblock@cato.org
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