Bush-crony and leading Republican presidential hopeful Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) notoriously admitted on "Meet the Press" a few weeks ago that he finds the Bush plan to close Amtrak "unacceptable."
Amtrak had 24 million riders in 2004, including a multitude from Santorum's home state of Pennsylvania. Amtrak is more energy-efficient and environmentally-friendly than the gas-guzzling cars and planes that riders woud be forced to take to their destinations.
Senator Santorum abruptly changed his mind when the Senate voted on the 2006 fiscal budget. Presumably responding to White House pressure, the senator voted to support the President's plan to cut off all Amtrak funding, thereby pushing the national rail service into bankruptcy and closure.
Now comes word from The Hill that Senator Santorum is feeling the heat from his constitutents for his vote....
Pennsylvania union officials are chiding Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) for his vote against an amendment to the budget resolution last week that would have increased funding for Amtrak. The officials, from unions representing firemen, machinists, aerospace workers, transport workers and others, wrote Santorum expressing their “profound shock and disappointment” over his vote.
Taking a further dig at Santorum, who is up for reelection, the officials noted that Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) voted for the amendment. Specter has historically been close with union officials in the state. “By standing up for the needs of our state, Senator Specter demonstrated his independence and his refusal to make Amtrak a partisan political issue,” wrote the officials, who are part of the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department.
Santorum at one point criticized proposed administration cuts in the program during a television interview. But he also has said that the place to push for an increase isn’t on the budget resolution but on appropriations bills, which carry the force of law. Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman called Santorum’s reelection one of the top GOP goals in 2006.
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