competitiveness of our economy and competing with the rest of the world and in generating jobs. they don t really justify it. they just say we don t want to spend money, and we spend less money. i mean, there is a whole philosophy. the republican party thinks the federal government should spend as little money as a possible except on defense. and you see this morning they cut on a party line vote $290 million out of the amtrak budget, this morning after that accident, below $290 million below what was in last year s budget and considerably more than that from what the president requested. so now we don t know. we know that speed was involved. we don t know how involved infrastructure will end up being here. but despite the accident and the unknown, they voted to cut $290 million this morning? this morning it was in the appropriations committee. you had some quotes i think from that committee meeting a little
the same amount of federal funding it got 20 years ago. today the house considered cutting that spending even more with some members said that raised serious concerns. while we don t know the cause of this accident we do know that starving rail of funding will not enable safer train travel. it s not just our trains mr. chairman, it is our bridges that are failing. it is our highways that are congested and riddled with potholes. it is our runways, our airports. we don t know the circumstances of this accident. we don t know what caused it. but we do know if we don t invest in the capital infrastructure of our country, there will be future accidents. again, there is still a lot we don t know about this accident. but could more funding for our trains keep passengers safer? joining me now is congressman
pulling together right now? this is a very challenging day for us. very tragic event. i toured the site. i want to say our prayers are out to the victims and their families. it s a real location i mean, something that you ve never seen before. it s only amazing. we re fortunate that there weren t more significant injuries to the passengers. but the simple reality is in this particular community, this is a strong working class community. and i m really proud about the way they responded. not necessarily to the accident but responded to those first responders that took the responsibility in the dark of night to deal with this particular issue. i had a survivor here in studio with me who said in the darker night people were running out, offering to help clean them up offering for people to come into their homes. really were reaching out in this working class neighborhood. exactly. people were coming out, as you said, reverend al offering
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it is difficult? yes. but we put a man on the moon in less time than it s going to take to implement positive train control. we can do this. we know how to do it. the technology exists. the question is whether there is a will to do it within government and without government. we need to do it. there are other safety measures that i m sure will come out of this accident like improving the interiors of cabs, of train cars to make them safer. george bible and kitty higgins, thank you both for your time tonight. we ll be right back. hi, i am heinz new mustard. hi na na na na she s just jealous because you have better taste. whatever. hey. keep your chin up. for years, heinz ketchup has been with the wrong mustard. well, not anymore. introducing heinz new better tasting yellow mustard. mmm!