After planting the seeds for a national high-speed rail system, Democrats in Washington and Springfield should find a way to double-down on their initial investment.
Just when momentum was surging behind the development of a national high-speed rail system, the Obama administration has effectively slammed on the brakes.
To be fair, the president is still committed to boosting the nation's rail infrastructure. It was his administration, after all, that devoted $8 billion in stimulus funds and $2.5 billion in its FY 2010 budget to jump-start construction on targeted projects across the county. But the White House, facing pressure to limit spending, only set aside $1 billion for high-speed rail projects in its FY 2011 budget proposal, unveiled earlier this year. Nick Martinelli, the legislative director to U.S. House rail subcommittee chairman Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL), told reporters last week that the appropriation "would not even cover planning costs" for states that are hoping to construct their own networks.
And while the Senate climate bill devotes $6 billion to fund cleaner, more efficient transportation projects (from which high-speed rail would likely benefit), Obama's inner circle has not forcefully campaigned for climate change mitigation since, well, the presidential campaign. That makes the hopes for passage dim. "The need for administration leadership," writes Mark Reutter, "is clear."
Back in Springfield, Illinois officials are attempting to lay the groundwork for their own high-speed rail expansion. Two weeks ago, the State Senate established the Illinois High Speed Rail Commission (SR 806), which will prepare a slate of recommendations by the end of the year for how Illinois should "design, build, operate, maintain, and finance" its high-speed rail system. It's not a permanent authority staffed with engineers and transit advocates, which worked so well in California and experts had pushed for earlier in the year, but the panel will certainly help coordinate spending priorities and develop a realistic plan of execution.
Still, what Illinois lawmakers have in transportation vision, they lack in transportation resources. The capital construction bill the General Assembly passed last year, the first in a decade, only spent $400 million on bullet trains. Facing a record deficit, lawmakers can't even cobble together a FY 2011 budget that funds service providers, much less make big (and crucial) investments in freight and passenger rail. Without sustained federal support, or comprehensive tax reform at the state level, the promising project could be scuttled before it even has a chance to succeed.
Transit advocates in Washington are making sure Congress catches an earful. Last week, a lobbying coalition that includes the Midwest High Speed Rail Association held a press conference urging Congress to up its rail appropriation to $4 billion next year. (They made a similar pitch last year.)
Gov. Pat Quinn and Alexi Giannoulias should take a cue from those folks and turn rail funding into a campaign issue this fall. Both Bill Brady and Rep. Mark Kirk have expressed enthusiasm for high-speed rail, but their voting records don't reflect it. Kirk balked on the stimulus bill last year and backed an unsuccessful amendment to strip high-speed rail funding from a broader transportation and housing bill. Meanwhile, Brady was just one of 12 state senators to vote against the capital bill last May.
By touting the immense potential for job growth in Illinois, not to mention the environmental impact, Democrats have a political winner sitting right in front of them. They just have to take advantage.
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