Senate Proceeding on Oct 25th, 2007 :: 2:20:51 to 2:26:00
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2:09:51 to 2:20:51( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jeff Sessions

2:20:43 to 2:20:51( Edit History Discussion )

Jeff Sessions: and when it goes west twro or three days, two or three days a week, it was 3:00 a.m. and that's not likely to attract a lot of customers. and let me show this chart and just go through it. and i believe

2:20:51 to 2:21:00( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: we will come to understand that what we're talking about, senator sununu, is trying to do something that's basically impossible to do. it's just not going to work. i wish we could. i mean, as we

2:20:51 to 2:26:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Thomas Carper

2:21:00 to 2:21:08( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: use ed to say in the country, i grew up on the railroad track. we grew up. my daddy had a country store. there was three country stores and a railroad depot in our little community. i remember when a

2:21:08 to 2:21:17( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: passenger train went down there. there hasn't been a passenger train on that road in 40 years. there's only one store left and no railroad depot. times change. things just happen. but let's look at this

2:21:17 to 2:21:26( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: chart, what it would take from birmingham to washington, d.c.,. well, what are your options? if you go commercial airline, the one we checked here was a direct flight from u.s. usair. there were

2:21:26 to 2:21:36( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: seven direct flights from birmingham, alabama, to washington, d.c., a day. if you take your personal vehicle, you can leave anytime you want to leave. if you take the train, there's only one a day.

2:21:36 to 2:21:46( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: that limits your options. people, when they're decide ing how to make a trip, think about these things. how long does it take? air time is three hours and 12 minutes. the personal vehicle is 11 hours

2:21:46 to 2:21:54( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: hours, approximately. and the train is 18 hours. okay? well, what about how many stops you make. if you take an airline, it's just one stop. it is a direct flight. what about your personal vehicle

2:21:54 to 2:22:03( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: vehicle? well, let's assume you take four stops. but the amtrak is making 18 stops. it's not going the shortest route either. what about cost? and i was sort of surprised at this and we looked at

2:22:03 to 2:22:11( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: the numbers. the primary cost for a round trip -- and this was, as i said, done last october -- was about $328. we now think it's $350, $3 $360, something like that. so, that's what the commercial

2:22:11 to 2:22:19( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: airline fare is.~ if you took your personal vehicle, the gasoline's $87. now it's at $2.90 a gallon. about what it would be today. the amtrak ticket is $206 round trip. none that this is an accurate

2:22:19 to 2:22:27( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: figure on the food -- i don't know that this is an accurate figure on the food, but on air fare you've got no cost of food. on a personal vehicle, one meal or two meal, $20. on amtrak, the high cost of

2:22:27 to 2:22:37( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: food can put you well over $100, maybe even $200 there, as our figures showed. and the commercial airline total cost for one-way would be $160, $175. where a personal vehicle is less than that. the train

2:22:37 to 2:22:45( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: is more than that. the train is going to be more than that one way. so, this is why people are not traveling long distances on trains. it's not because they're not there. they're there. but you say,

2:22:45 to 2:22:54( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: well, what we really need is an amtrak coming through mobile 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. or 8:00. well, you can't make that happen. we're going to have to double the number of trains, triple, quadruple

2:22:54 to 2:23:02( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: and then lose even more money. i just wish it weren't so. i wish that we could make this system work. but certain long routes are not feasible. but congress being what it is just mandates it. we

2:23:02 to 2:23:11( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: just say you've got to run these routes, and it runs up billions of dollars in debt. and if i could see us moving to a time when we would come close to making this feasible, i'd be supportive.

2:23:11 to 2:23:20( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: mr. lautenberg: can i ask a moment of the senator's time without him losing his time? mr. sessions: i would be pleased. mr. lautenberg: for a unanimous consent request, consent request. because we're

2:23:20 to 2:23:28( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: planning to hold the vote now at 12:15. i want other members to, who are interested to know that. and i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that at 12:15 today the senate proceed to vote in relation

2:23:28 to 2:23:38( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: to the sununu amendment, that the time until 12:15 be equally divided, and all provisions under the previous order remain in effect. i assume that senator sununu has agreed too this. the presiding officer:

2:23:38 to 2:23:59( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: without objection, it will be so. mr. sessions: mr. president, well, i am not opposed and don't think that the supporters of the present legislation have bad intent. i think they have a vision for a national

2:23:59 to 2:24:23( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: rail system, and they are willing to put billions of dollars into it. but i can't see it. i haven't been able to lay my hand on the study this morning, but there was a study that showed even in europe

2:24:23 to 2:24:33( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: train routes within certain ranges will work. i think the mileage was like 200 to 300 miles, something like that. if it's much farther than that, people almost always choose to fly. if it's much shorter

2:24:33 to 2:24:45( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: than that, they always choose to drive. americans more than anybody else in the world have automobiles and would choose to drive frequently. it allows you to arrive when you want to, carry things you want

2:24:45 to 2:24:54( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: to carry, drive straight to the house that you intend to attend, go to, and not have to wait at a station. and you don't have this on-time problem. commercial airlines on time 80%. that may have

2:24:54 to 2:25:07( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: dropped a little bit. but amtrak as of last year was only on time 66% of the time. so that's another factor you have to think about if you're going to regularly use a long-distance train. now, certainly

2:25:07 to 2:25:20( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: in certain car tkors where the traffic is heavy -- kor corridors where the traffic is heavy and it really works, i'm not disputing that. i'm not here for shutting down a profitable routes or even

2:25:20 to 2:26:00( Edit History Discussion )

Thomas Carper: routes that are close to profitable, if we can justify subsidizing. but i do think in all honesty that senator sununu has raised a legitimate point. how much can we support these routes that are losing money