WASHINGTON (NewsNation Now) — President Joe Biden will hit the road to mark Amtrak's 50th anniversary Friday night, but he'll also use it as a chance to push his infrastructure plan.
This comes on the heels of his Wednesday night speech to Congress when he called for $1.8 trillion in infrastructure spending and $2.3 trillion in aid for families, all funded by tax hikes on Americans making more than $400,000 per year.
The infrastructure proposal would devote $621 billion to improving roads, bridges, public transit and other transportation infrastructure. Of that, $80 billion would go toward tackling Amtrak’s repair backlog, improving service along the Northeast Corridor and expanding service across the U.S.
Amtrak said after Biden announced the plan that the corporation would upgrade and expand service, including by adding 30 new routes and adding trains on 20 existing routes across the U.S. by 2035. New service would begin in portions of northeast Pennsylvania including Scranton, where Biden was born, as well as Nashville, Tennessee; Columbus, Ohio; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Houston; Dallas; and Austin, Texas, if approved by Congress.
But while the $80 billion represents a significant investment, the money would not go far in terms of funding high-speed rail. Amtrak has estimated that it has a $31 billion repair backlog for its trains in the Northeast Corridor alone, and transportation analysts say adding new lines in that region could easily use up the funds that remain.
A Senate Republican counteroffer to Biden’s plan, totaling $568 billion, would devote a slimmer $20 billion to U.S. rail service.
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