Joyce Mor News Today

Executive Summary: Amtrak fails to fill half of its seats on anygiven day, and ridership has remained largely unchanged since 2005,yet Amtrak receives the highest federal subsidy of all modes oftransportation: $210.31 per passenger per 1,000 miles. Congressshould cap Amtrak's subsidy at $900 million for FY 2008 andcondition future subsidies on steady improvement in Amtrak'sridership.

The Federal Aviation Administration should continue to resist theair traffic controllers' demands for a contract that would increasetotal compensation to over $200,000 by the last year in thecontract and build on its past privatization efforts by developinglegislation to privatize the entire air traffic control system, asmany other countries have done.