John Mica Pounds Obama on Rail Projects

Florida Republican U.S. Rep. John Mica, chairman of the powerful House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, expressed skepticism on Tuesday over the Obama administrations plans to spend more than $50 billion on rail projects in the next six years.

This is like giving Bernie Madoff another chance at handling your investment portfolio, Mica said.
Mica pointed to more than $10 billion already spent by the administration on rail. The Florida congressman argued that the Federal Railroad Administration should not be involved in rail grants and that high-speed rail projects backed by the Obama administration were not living up to expectations. Mica hammered Amtrak as well.

Amtrak hijacked 76 of the 78 projects, most of them costly and some already rejected by state agencies, said Mica. Amtraks Soviet-style train system is not the way to provide modern and efficient passenger rail service.

Rather than focusing on the Northeast corridor, the most congested corridor in the nation and the only corridor owned by the federal government, the administration continues to squander limited taxpayer dollars on marginal projects, added Mica, who was joined by U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa., chairman of the Railroads subcommittee, in attacking the administration.

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