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

(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

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.