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Mica and Rail Supporters Meet Halfway

by Tanya Snyder <http://dc.streetsblog.org/author/tanya-snyder/> on July 28,
2011

<http://dc.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ushsr-photo.jpg>

Members of the U.S. High-Speed Rail Association on Capitol Hill with Rep.
John Mica (center) on Tuesday. Photo courtesy of USHSR.

At a meeting with members of the U.S. High-Speed Rail Association Tuesday,
House Transportation Committee Chair John Mica softened his stance somewhat
on his plan to privatize the Northeast
Corridor<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/06/15/house-plan-to-privatize-northeast-corridor-more-moderate-than-expected/>
.

He acknowledged that the proposal is
“controversial<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/06/23/mica-extends-olive-branch-to-amtrak-dems-pound-rail-privatization-plan/>”
and said that was why he framed it in a separate bill, apart from the rest
of the reauthorization. He said he’s “heard the concerns” about the plan. A
member of his staff said that the original plan was being portrayed as
transferring Amtrak’s assets away from it, while leaving Amtrak holding the
bag on the debt. “Which, when you put it that way, does sound sort of
unfair,” the staffer said, indicating that issues like those are being
worked out.

Andy Kunz, president and CEO of the U.S. High-Speed Rail Association, said
he was glad to see Mica striking a more cooperative tone. “His initial bill
and his initial hearing was a little bit ‘This is it; take it or leave it’,”
Kunz said. “Now he’s recognizing there needs to be a bit more cooperative
action.”

The committee isn’t easing up on everything, though. The staffer also stated
that the committee was giving inter-city and passenger rail “a temporary
rest” while it focuses exclusively on high-speed rail. “It does not serve
the two programs well to be ‘smooshed,’ or put together and consolidated the
way they have been and then have most of the projects that receive funding
not be high-speed rail in any way, shape, or form.”

In response to the Congressional Research Service’s
conclusion<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/07/13/crs-northeast-corridor-privatization-plan-violates-constitution/>that
the rail privatization scheme could run into constitutional problems,
Mica’s staffer was dismissive, saying CRS merely warned that some courts
could find it to be a violation, and they should be careful. (Sounds like a
finding of unconstitutionality to me.)

As he often does, Mica spoke of his high-speed rail plans as a way to rescue
high-speed rail from the Obama administration’s mismanagement and bungling.
He often jokes about the “gift that keeps on giving”: the original $8
billion allocated for high-speed rail, some of which has been returned by
gun-shy<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/11/05/wisconsin-ohio-governors-elect-press-ahead-to-pull-the-plug-on-rail/>
states<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2011/02/16/florida-gov-rick-scott-chooses-politics-over-constituents-rejects-hsr-funds/>and
re-allocated<http://dc.streetsblog.org/2010/12/09/ohio-wisc-rail-money-to-be-transferred-to-13-other-states/>
.

Mica asserted that the involvement of the private sector is “non-negotiable”
– which Amtrak itself would agree with, as it’s already seeking private
sector partners. Mica gave Amtrak CEO Joseph Boardman credit for being on
board. “Boardman sees that you cannot [upgrade the NEC to high speeds] – at
least in his lifetime – under the current proposal,” Mica said. He also said
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is “willing to negotiate.” But he cast
blame on Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), who he
said are willing to give “none of the pie” to private investors.

Everyone is still trying to figure out exactly what the “pie” consists of,
in any case, and Mica let the USHSR know that he had sent a letter to Joseph
Boardman asking for an itemized inventory of all the assets on the NEC and
their fair market value. Mica’s staffer says that “knowing what’s there and
how leveraged it is and what are the encumbrances” would be a “building
block of private sector financing participation.”

Kunz of the U.S. High-Speed Rail Association agreed that Amtrak “needs to
show that they’re willing to bend a little bit,” if for no other reason than
because “Amtrak needs funding from the federal government every year.”

In an interview with Streetsblog immediately after the Capitol Hill
meetings, Kunz said, “Amtrak is just assuming they’re going to control
everything and run everything, and that may not be in the interests of the
whole country… it’s the country’s rail system. They need to do what’s best
for the country, which may not always be what’s best for Amtrak.”

Mica is hoping that transit-oriented development will be a key source of
private sector involvement, and, perhaps, revenue. He pointed to successes
with TOD in Phoenix and said, “Can you imagine, in the Northeast Corridor,
what you could do?”

Mica also said he’s been meeting with Democrats on the larger
reauthorization package, and that so far they’ve gotten about 55 or 60
percent of the way through the bill. It’s been lamented that there haven’t
been “Big Four” meetings in the House like there have been in the Senate,
bringing together top members of both parties from the committee, but those
meetings have now started in the various subcommittees. Mica started to say
that all that consultation was the explanation for the delay in marking up
the bill, but then he said, “We will continue in a slower motion fashion,”
he said, “mainly because our leadership controls the floor time.”

He granted that the delay makes sense. “Given the intensity of the current
drama on the budget deficit, they probably calculated right,” he said. “To
get this to the floor before next Friday seems highly unlikely. But we have
a commitment to do it as soon as we get back [from recess]. So you’ll see
everything go from slow motion into fast motion as soon as we get back.”

The U.S. High-Speed Rail Association is trying to drum up interest in its
new “Republicans 4 Rail” program. They’re trying to get members of Congress,
governors, state and local officials, and even some rank-and-file members of
the Republican party to sign on.

For now, the pickings are still somewhat slim. Mica counts, although many
Democrats see his Northeast Corridor proposal as the “death knell” of
passenger rail in the U.S. So does Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), one of few
Republican senators representing urban or industrial states. In trying to
brainstorm other Senate Republicans who might be interested in joining R4R,
Kirk’s staffer and the USHSR came up with a short list indeed: maybe Rob
Portman from Ohio; maybe Scott Brown of Massachusetts if he weren’t running
for reelection.

The rail lobbyists met with Kirk’s office after the meeting with Mica, but
Kirk himself was not able to show up. His staffer talked about the Lincoln
Legacy Infrastructure Development
Act<http://kirk.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=226>,
also designed to draw private investment to public infrastructure projects.

He also alluded to the House/Senate split around the duration of a
reauthorization. He said the constituent calls he gets on the subject are
about split, 50-50, on the issue of whether to lock in low spending levels
for six years, a la the House bill, or go with a two-year bill at higher
spending levels, but offering less ability to plan long-term projects.

--
Mike Muldoon
Rosemont Seneca Partners, LLC
1010 Wisconsin Ave., NW
Suite 705
Washington, DC 20007
(202) 333-1880
mmuldoon@rosemontseneca.co