The North Carolina legislature has forbidden the state’s transportation department from applying for more high-speed rail funds from the federal government. Before the department can apply for any grants that would obligate the state to pay $5 million or more in operating costs–which any high-speed rail project would do–it must receive approval from the state legislature.
In the view of some, this makes North Carolina the fourth state–after Florida, Ohio, and Wisconsin–to reject federal high-speed rail funds. But unlike the other three states, North Carolina isn’t turning back the $496 million in funds it has already received. But that $496 million will not buy much without further grants, which are unlikely to happen now. Many people credit the John Locke Foundation, which published two reports on high-speed rail–one by the Antiplanner and one by Wendell Cox–with persuading the legislature to take this step.
Meanwhile, Democratic governors across the nation “admire the way [Illinois Governor Pat] Quinn grabbed up federal high-speed rail dollars rejected by the Republican governors of Wisconsin and Florida.” Yet the Chicago Tribune, the state’s largest paper, has–belatedly perhaps–come out against the state’s high-speed rail projects as expensive and not really high speed.
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Another state to watch is Iowa, which received $230 million in federal funds for a Chicago-Iowa City line. The state needs to provide $20 million in matching funds. While newly elected Republican Governor Terry Branstad isn’t as opposed to high-speed rail as the governors of Ohio and Wisconsin, he says he is “worried” about the cost, and neither he nor the legislature know where the $20 million will come from.
This entire high-speed rail debacle illustrates one of the major problems with American democracy. The Constitution gives Congress the power to write laws and approve budgets, while the executive is to carry out those laws and spend the money. State constitutions are the same, and that’s pretty much the way the system worked before Franklin Roosevelt; many a non-wartime president had so little to do that tourists could visit the White House and shake his hand or even have coffee with the president. However, starting in the early twentieth century, and most particularly with FDR, presidents have played a much bigger role in legislation and spending.
So Obama could ask Congress for a mere $8 billion for high-speed rail without telling anyone that he was hoping to commit the nation to spending half a trillion or more on the program, and without ever having done a benefit-cost analysis of whether it was worthwhile. And state governors could apply for federal grants without seeking approval from state legislators for the tens or hundreds of millions in matching and operating funds needed to implement those grants even though most of the grant applications themselves predicted minimal speed gains and anemic ridership. With the nation’s debt approaching $14 trillion and most states also facing billions in deficits, it is time to reread the constitutions and remember how our government is supposed to work.
The Autoplanner;”Second, Congress had a plan to pay for interstate highways through gas taxes and other highway user fees; not a single dollar of general taxpayer money was spent on the roads”
THWM: What the fuck! Roads are mostly funded through property taxes, even with sales taxes on gas that works out to be cross subsidizing! Also they don’t exist on a profit or loss basis!
O’Toole you wouldn’t know what work is if it punched you in the face. You’re just damn lucky the Koch brothers pay you to write this fraudlent bullshit!
Alert: We need a diaper change on Aisle Two. A baby has the runs.
On a more serious note, this is a positive development. The only proper place for these delusional “high” speed rail plans is the dumpster. Any serious (financial) analysis, not tilted by rail lobbyists or planning delusions, will arrive at the same conclusion.
The states are simply wising up. The given funds are minute injections designed to encourage the rail. But when North Carolina asks for federal revenues to complete the line upon running out of money, they’ll be stuck in a financial pinch. They’ll have no choice but to cough up state money to pay for HSR, meaning higher state taxes for all. Rather than do that they should do what Florida did and reject the funds altogether.
The Tribune editorial is simply a low-pitched whine about money being sent to benefit the travel habits of downstate hicks, instead of being spent on the “right” people, which is Chicagolander’s needing money for METRA and CTA commutes. Boo hoo.
Illinois covered about $27 million in Amtrak losses this year. The Illinois Department of Transportation says that subsidy could nearly triple
“Could” triple. And I “could” win the lottery tonight. It seems pretty unlikely that the covering of losses will triple when the number of trains is hardly close to setting to triple.
neither he nor the legislature know where the $20 million will come from
If it shows up, it will come from the taxpayers as part of Iowa’s multi-billion dollar annual budget just like every other dollar ever spent on government provided transportation infrastructure.
It never ceases to amaze me that so many voices think “we can’t afford” transportation spending, but no one dares to question the billions in annual transfer payments to the shiftless and to layabouts.
Almost all complaining about spending by the government comes from a source that is not benefitting from the spending and concerns the money not being available for spending that does benefit the person making the complaint.
Wake me up when “fiscal conservatives” like Michelle Bachmann give up their agricultural subsidy checks. You cannot possibly be a “fiscal conservative” if you get regular FedGov and StateGov checks with your name printed on them.
With the nation’s debt approaching $14 trillion
The nation’s debt is the amount of publicly traded debt paper. The rest of it is just meaningless bookkeeping entries. The actual amount is around $9 trillion, most of which is attributable to the Iraq and Afghan wars, Bush era tax policies continued under Obama, and vast quantities of social welfare spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Dept of Education, and unemployment insurance over the past decade.
Its completely disingenuous to suggest that any of the tiny annual non-defense/education/welfare discretionary spending budget has anything to do with the debt and deficits, especially the notion that the tiny sliver of transportation spending is at fault when it is one of the few things that the government has always been involved in from the founding.
Come on Andrew, don’t be dishonest.
“Another state to watch is Iowa, which received $230 million in federal funds for a Chicago-Iowa City line. The state needs to provide $20 million in matching funds. While newly elected Republican Governor Terry Branstad isn’t as opposed to high-speed rail as the governors of Ohio and Wisconsin, he says he is “worried†about the cost, and neither he nor the legislature know where the $20 million will come from.” — The Anti-Planner
About the middle of March, a hour or so after wrapping up my visit to check out the Iowa Traction Railroad (IATR) in Mason City, I caught an interview with IA’s governor on Iowa Public Radio. He was asked about the Chicago – Iowa City route.
His answer struck me as very much a way of letting a project die on it’s own rather than killing it off explicitly. IIRC he didn’t say he wouldn’t fund the project but that no new requests for funds were required at this time. But he questioned whether more should be requested. I think he also said it was up the legislature to find the operating funds.
The details are sketchy but I do clearly remember the whole political stance of neither explicitly supporting nor explicitly opposing the project.
Anyway, IIRC Illinois DOT has said they’re going to ahead with the project regardless of Iowa’s participation. Which I’d imagine the folks at the Iowa Interstate Railroad ( IAIS ) are happy to hear that. Either way they get a big, free upgrade to their freight route into Chicago.
“especially the notion that the tiny sliver of transportation spending is at fault when it is one of the few things that the government has always been involved in from the founding.” -Andrew
They had railroads in 1776?
prk166:
The US Constitution authorized spending on Post Roads as a means of transporting the US mail, and granted oversight to regulate interstate commerce in general. In particular, congress was authorized to “establish” post roads, a word which everyone recognizes as to set something on a permanent foundation by means of positive actions towards a goal, i.e. “to establish justice” or “establish schools throughout the territory.”
The Federal Government authorized the National Road in 1806 after beginning to set aside funds for that purpose in 1803. A few days later in the same year of 1806 the Natchez Road was authorized and a road from Athens to New Orleans. All railroads (including street railways and subways), which were commercialized in the late 1820’s-early 1830’s were established as Post Roads by law in 1838.
The Federalist Papers (No. 42) note that the “power of establishing post-roads must, in every view, be a harmless power; and may, perhaps, by judicious management, become productive of great public conveniency. Nothing, which tends to facilitate the intercourse between the states, can be deemed unworthy of the public care.”
Isn’t it amazing how foreign to the spirit of the Constitution and American Government the present so-called conservative movement becomes every day?
Metrosucks; Come on Andrew, don’t be dishonest.
THWM: Andrew isn’t dishonest.
Metrosucks, you’re dishonest, along with O’Toole!
You’re not even being honest about the road in front of your residence!
So Metrosucks, shut the fuck up!
Highwayman, you sure use a lot of cuss words instead of arguing your positions. Says a lot about your position.
As an NC resident, O’Toole, I’d like to thank you for working on that John Locke report. It did make a difference.
I’m personally very fond of riding the train, but the economic justifications for the NC grant were ridiculous and unbelievable. Particularly germane were your comments about the poor paying, in one way or the other, for the richer folks to ride. This includes the loss of property rights: some of my leftist friends who are still bemoaning the loss of certain poor or black communities (http://www.ibiblio.org/hayti/demise.html) cannot see the link between past efforts “for the good of the community” and present proposals like these.
OMG, you teabaggers are crooked!