House Republicans push to cut Amtrak funding mere hours after Philadelphia crash

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

published 13 May 2015

It's still unclear what caused an Amtrak passenger train to derail in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, but it's suspected that the crash could be part of a larger story about America's brittle, aging infrastructure.

So Democrats were quick to condemn a decision by the GOP-controlled House Appropriations Committee to pass a bill cutting Amtrak funding mere hours after the crash. As Politico reports:

Democrats called this the worst possible time to chop Amtrak's funding to $1.13 billion from its typical $1.4 billion..."Starving rail of funding will not enable safer train travel," Rep. Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, said Wednesday morning in a testy exchange with Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.). Shortly afterward, the panel voted 21-29 to defeat a Democratic amendment that would have significantly boosted Amtrak funding. [Politico]

Republicans accused Democrats of using the Amtrak crash for political purposes.