House GOP measure would cut Amtrak by $242M

Source: AP

By ANDREW TAYLOR

WASHINGTON (AP) — The GOP-controlled House passed legislation Tuesday to cut Amtrak's budget by $242 million, though lawmakers added new funding for video cameras inside locomotive cabs to record engineers and help investigators get to the bottom of crashes such as last month's deadly derailment in Philadelphia.

Amtrak announced last month it is going to install the cameras after years of delays. The transportation and housing measure approved by a narrow 216-210 vote contains $9 million approved last week to fund the inward-facing camera initiative in the budget year starting in October.

Amtrak is among many domestic programs whose budgets are cut or frozen by the GOP measures, as automatic spending curbs known as sequestration are again hitting federal agencies after two years of relief. Previous House GOP attempts to cut Amtrak over the years have been reversed, and Tuesday's transportation measure is but an opening move in a longer chess match with the White House over spending levels for agency operating budgets passed annually by Congress.

House Republicans also unveiled crunching cuts of $718 million to the Environmental Protection Agency even as a Senate panel gave initial approval to a huge measure awarding the Pentagon with a 7 percent increase. The 9 percent cut comes as Republicans press to rein in the EPA, which they say is too aggressive in pursuing a pro-environment agenda at the expense of business and industries such as utilities with coal-fired power plants.

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