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Current Governance Issues at Amtrak Hearing

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Current Governance Issues at Amtrak Hearing CURRENT GOVERNANCE ISSUES AT AMTRAK (109–41) HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAILROADS OF THE COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION NOVEMBER 15, 2005 Printed for the use of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 25–921 PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE DON YOUNG, Alaska, Chairman THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin, Vice-Chair JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York NICK J. RAHALL, II, West Virginia HOWARD COBLE, North Carolina PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois WAYNE T. GILCHREST, Maryland ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JOHN L. MICA, Florida Columbia PETER HOEKSTRA, Michigan JERROLD NADLER, New York VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan CORRINE BROWN, Florida SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama BOB FILNER, California STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas SUE W. KELLY, New York GENE TAYLOR, Mississippi RICHARD H. BAKER, Louisiana JUANITA MILLENDER-MCDONALD, ROBERT W. NEY, Ohio California FRANK A. LOBIONDO, New Jersey ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland JERRY MORAN, Kansas EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon GARY G. MILLER, California ELLEN O. TAUSCHER, California ROBIN HAYES, North Carolina BILL PASCRELL, JR., New Jersey ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa HENRY E. BROWN, JR., South Carolina TIM HOLDEN, Pennsylvania TIMOTHY V. JOHNSON, Illinois BRIAN BAIRD, Washington TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada SAM GRAVES, Missouri JIM MATHESON, Utah MARK R. KENNEDY, Minnesota MICHAEL M. HONDA, California BILL SHUSTER, Pennsylvania RICK LARSEN, Washington JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas MICHAEL E. CAPUANO, Massachusetts JIM GERLACH, Pennsylvania ANTHONY D. WEINER, New York MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida JULIA CARSON, Indiana JON C. PORTER, Nevada TIMOTHY H. BISHOP, New York TOM OSBORNE, Nebraska MICHAEL H. MICHAUD, Maine KENNY MARCHANT, Texas LINCOLN DAVIS, Tennessee MICHAEL E. SODREL, Indiana BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky CHARLES W. DENT, Pennsylvania BRIAN HIGGINS, New York TED POE, Texas RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington ALLYSON Y. SCHWARTZ, Pennsylvania CONNIE MACK, Florida JOHN T. SALAZAR, Colorado JOHN R. ‘RANDY’ KUHL, JR., New York JOHN BARROW, Georgia LUIS G. FORTUN˜ O, Puerto Rico LYNN A. WESTMORELAND, Georgia CHARLES W. BOUSTANY, JR., Louisiana JEAN SCHMIDT, Ohio (II) SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAILROADS STEVEN C. LATOURETTE, Ohio, Chairman THOMAS E. PETRI, Wisconsin CORRINE BROWN, Florida SHERWOOD L. BOEHLERT, New York NICK J. RAHALL II, West Virginia JOHN L. MICA, Florida JERROLD NADLER, New York SPENCER BACHUS, Alabama BOB FILNER, California JERRY MORAN, Kansas ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland GARY G. MILLER, California EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon ROB SIMMONS, Connecticut LEONARD L. BOSWELL, Iowa TODD RUSSELL PLATTS, Pennsylvania JULIA CARSON, Indiana SAM GRAVES, Missouri PETER A. DEFAZIO, Oregon JON PORTER, Nevada JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois TOM OSBORNE, Nebraska EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas MICHAEL E. SODREL, Indiana JOHN BARROW, Georgia LYNN A. WESTMORELND, Georgia, Vice- JAMES L. OBERSTAR, Minnesota Chair (ex officio) DON YOUNG, Alaska (ex officio) (III) CONTENTS TESTIMONY Page Castle, Hon. Michael N., a Representative in Congress from the State of Delaware ............................................................................................................... 12 Costa, Hon. Jim, a Representative in Congress from the State of California .... 13 Cummings, Hon. Elijah, a Representative in Congress from the State of Maryland ............................................................................................................... 17 Gunn, David, former President and CEO, Amtrak ............................................... 27 Hughes, David, acting President and CEO, Amtrak ............................................ 27 Laney, David M., Chairman of the Board, Amtrak .............................................. 27 Lautenberg, Hon. Frank, a United States Senator from the State of New Jersey .................................................................................................................... 4 Menendez, Hon. Robert, a Representative in Congress from the State of New Jersey ........................................................................................................... 15 Rosen, Jeffrey A., General Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation .......... 27 Schumer, Hon. Charles, a United States Senator from the State of New Jersey .................................................................................................................... 10 PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY MEMBERS OF CONGRESS Blumenauer, Hon. Earl, of Oregon ......................................................................... 79 Brown, Hon. Corrine, of Florida ............................................................................. 80 Costello, Hon. Jerry F., of Illinois .......................................................................... 87 Cummings, Hon. Elijah E., of Maryland ............................................................... 89 Johnson, Hon. Eddie Bernice, of Texas .................................................................. 112 Oberstar, Hon. James L. of Minnesota .................................................................. 157 Young, Hon. Don, of Alaska .................................................................................... 186 PREPARED STATEMENTS SUBMITTED BY WITNESSES Gunn, David ............................................................................................................. 97 Hughes, David .......................................................................................................... 111 Laney, David M ....................................................................................................... 115 Rosen, Jeffrey A ....................................................................................................... 160 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Laney, David M., Chairman of the Board, Amtrak, responses to questions from Rep. Brown of Florida ................................................................................. 119 Rosen, Jeffrey A., General Counsel, U.S. Department of Transportation: Letter to Rep. LaTourette, October 26, 2005 and attachments ........................ 168 Memorandum for Alberto Gonzales, Counsel to the President, from M. Edward Whelan III, Acting Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel, U.S. Department of Justice, September 22, 2003 .......................... 175 Responses to questions from Rep. Brown of Florida ......................................... 181 (V) CURRENT GOVERNANCE ISSUES AT AMTRAK Tuesday, November 15, 2005 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON RAIL- ROADS, COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION AND INFRA- STRUCTURE, WASHINGTON, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:07 a.m., in Room 2325, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Steven LaTourette [chairman of the subcommittee] Presiding. Mr. LATOURETTE. We are going to ask the subcommittee to come to order this morning. I want to welcome all of our members, our guests and our witnesses this morning. It was originally our intention to hold a hearing on rail safety today, focusing on 10-car safety and some other things. But due to events that have occurred that the National Passenger Rail Cor- poration, Amtrak, within the last week, the hearing has been shift- ed in focus to governance at Amtrak. I want to, first of all, indicate that we are not in the transpor- tation infrastructure room. It is under construction, which is ex- pected from the Transportation Infrastructure Committee, and we want to thank the Science Committee and Chairman Boehlert for making this room available for us here today. A couple of house- keeping matters, I want to ask unanimous consent for members to insert additional remarks into the record, and additional state- ments and materials by witnesses. Also, we have been notified that, and we may expand this, but ask unanimous consent that members not on the Rail Subcommit- tee but who have indicated a desire to participate today, be per- mitted to do so, Mr. Baker of Louisiana and Ms. Holmes Norton of the District of Columbia, without objection. The Chair also has an announcement to make. Pursuant to rule 6(f), paragraphs 2 through 4 the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and by agreement, with the ranking minority mem- ber, the subcommittee will be following the extended questioning procedure today in today’s hearing. Under that procedure, one hour of time will be allotted for extended questioning of witnesses with the hour evenly divided between the majority and the minority. The chairman and the ranking member respectively will recog- nize members for use of such extended questioning time. Pursuant to the same rule, members seeking to ask questions outside of the extended question period may be recognized to ask questions under the 5-minute rule. So for members and your schedules, after the— we won’t have extended questioning of our first panel, but on our second panel, because of the complex legal issues that I think we need to explore today, the Chair will control one half hour and dis- (1) 2 tribute time accordingly. The ranking
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