In his new budget proposal, President George W. Bush has completely eliminated funding for Amtrak.

[Buckley]: The Bush administration has long been out to dismantle Amtrak. But this is really a new low where they have come right out and zeroed out it’s budget.

Michael Buckley is Communications Director for the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department. He says the TTD believes privatizing the railway is a bad decision.

[Buckley2]: It’s very reckless and irresponsible policy choice. It would put 22,000 workers out of jobs, it would strand millions of passengers across the country, it would send many more cars to already congested highways.

On Tuesday the department’s President Edward Wytkind spoke before Congress urging them to fight the budget decision. Wytkind compared the privatization of America’s railways to “voodoo economics.” He says Bush believes that if Amtrak is forced into bankruptcy, a new private sector will emerge from it’s ashes.

Buckley says that the reaction from Congress has been encouraging:

[Buckley3]: Both the press and members of Congress are very responsive to things that affect their states and their communities. They don’t see Amtrak as the inside the beltway political football. They see it as a nuts and bolts part of their community, part of their local economy and part of their regional transportation needs.