Editor’s Note: NARP does not endorse or oppose any political candidate.
Sometimes I gripe about my commute to and from work. Metro trains break down, or I just miss the connection at Fort Totten. But I know that my commute isn’t anything compared to what many workers go through—including Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE).

Senator Biden commutes to and from Washington almost every day the Senate is in session. In quotations published since his nomination to be Barack Obama’s Vice Presidential Candidate, Biden has referred to Amtrak, and specifically its employees, as “my extended family.” I’ve confirmed his statement with Amtrak’s on board employees and seen it with my own eyes when I have run into him on the train or in Washington Union Station.

When Senator Biden began his commute to Washington in 1973, passenger trains weren’t on most people’s radar screen. Amtrak had only been created two years prior and America had not yet experienced the first oil crisis of the late 1970’s. Today, Senator Biden joins over 27 million annual Amtrak passengers a year, and hundreds of millions more that use local mass transit and commuter rail to get to work. Senator Biden has consistently supported passenger train investment—both Amtrak and commuter/transit service—over his 35 years in the Senate.

What I look forward to is seeing if Biden’s nomination stimulates conversation about a topic we have heard very little about in this election: infrastructure, specifically transportation infrastructure. As I told a reporter earlier today who called to discuss the subject, it is difficult to get the electorate excited about infrastructure. Terrorism and security, the housing crisis, taxes, and health care are all much more emotional topics that grab people’s attention harder and faster. Also, you don’t see the results of infrastructure investment right away; the physical act of building or upgrading something takes time. We are, after all, a nation that desires instant gratification.

America needs to have a conversation about what we are going to do to address transportation mobility, and we need to have it now. The slight drop seen recently in gas prices is by all accounts temporary at best. We will have to face $5 a gallon, and possibly higher, gasoline sooner rather than later.

Some feel that a Democratic Administration would be more favorable to Amtrak. However, Amtrak was created under a Republican Administration (Nixon). In addition, the two largest set of budgetary and service cuts in Amtrak history occurred under Democratic Administrations (Carter, 1979 and Clinton, 1997). But Republican Administrations have repeatedly attempted to zero-out Amtrak funding (Regan and both Bush’s), only to be rebuffed in a bipartisan manner by Congress. So, on this issue, political stereotypes in the White House don’t really pan out.

If elected, will Senator Biden’s support and use of Amtrak translate into stronger federal support of and funding for passenger trains? Time will tell.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am and is filed under Politics .