quorum call:

from schumer: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum be -- are we in a quorum call, mr. president? the presiding officer: we are. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous i s consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, i rise today to talk about one of the most recent american transportation success stories -- amtrak's northeast corridor, and how congress can help it grow. first, however, i'd like to thank two great leaders on the senate appropriations committee.

first our chair, barbara mikulski. she's from the northeast corridor. i often stop by in baltimore as i take the train from new york to washington. and she has been a staunch defender of amtrak from the day she got here. and to chairman murray. chairman murray is chairman of the transportation subcommittee. she is not from the northeast corridor, and, of course, cares very much about amtrak across the nation and has been a defender of those of us who care about amtrak and depend on amtrak in the northeast as well as throughout the whole country. and in tough budget times, these two folks have stood up from amtrak from one end of the nation to the other and we very much appreciate that. now, as the committees begin their work on the fiscal year 2015 appropriations, my colleagues and i are here to urge something that will benefit millions of riders on the northeast corridor which runs from boston to washington, d.c.

and i want to say, mr. president, we are mindful of the fact that we depend on national support for amtrak, even though the northeast corridor is far and away the most used and the most profitable of the amtrak lines. we are one amtrak. and we understand how important amtrak is observe eve, even if t serve many passengers in sparsely populated states and, of course, in more populated states in the midwest, the mideast and the south. now, what i'd like to point out, however, is that i believe -- and so, having said that, mr. president, i want to point out that i strongly believe in the long-distance service provided by amtrak. it connects rural communities and other economic hubs by rail. people want it and like this service. in upstate new york, in the buffalo-albany corridor, it's clearly not as used as the northeast corridor, but we know how much we depend on amtrak there and in the other 49 states

people depend on it as well. since 1971, amtrak, in the northeast and throughout the country, has been a federal responsibility and it should continue to be. so the proposal we're advocating today is one of fairness to both ends of the national passenger rail system. what we're saying is simple -- accept amtrak's new budget framework, which would allow the n.e.c. to reinvest profits while providing -- while continuing to provide long-distance service. first let me explain the background. amtrak's northeast corridor has become a profit generating operation that carries passengers in economically critical region, home to over 50 million people. some of the facts on our region. it generates $1 out of $5 of g.d.p., 1 out of every fortune 500 companies has its headquarters located in it. one out of every fife jobs in the northeast united states --

five jobs in the northeast is located in the northeast corridor. 1so you wouldn't be surprised over the last decade, ridership in the northeast corridor has been growing. between the years of 2000 and 2011, amtrak's share of the air-rail travel market has increased from 37% to 75% for trips between new york and washington and 20% to 54% from new york to boston. look at those increases. you wouldn't believe it. it's counterintuitive almost. but three-quarters of the people who make the travel -- who travel between washington, d.c., and new york and don't use a car or bus but, rather, use plane or train, use the train. and even a majority now in the slightly longer route to boston use the train. it's a testament to the region and to amtrak that every day 750,000 people travel over portions of the northeast corridor main line. that's nearly half of all railroad commuters nationally.

it's a total of 260,000 trips a year. and look at the different -- look at all different commuter railroads that run over amtrak's northeast corridor structure. here they are. mass bay, shoreline east, metr metro-north, in my city of new york, and in my metropolitan area of new york. long island railroad, new jersey transit. southeastern pennsylvania transportation, septa, maryland area regional, and virginia. two of the biggest commuter railroads in the country operate on amtrak's structure and those are in the metropolitan area that you, mr. president, and i share. they are metro-north and the long island railroad. hundreds of thousands of people use these railroads every day. so the northeast corridor is one of the most important arteries in the beating heart of our economy, and i'm happy to report the business is booming.

n.e.c. revenues currently exceed operating costs by more than $300 million a year. so you'd think, finally we have the means to update the aging infrastructure that amtrak and our commuter rail systems depend on. but, unfortunately, mr. president, the growth of the northeast corridor and the profits it has produced are not going back into the system. instead, over the last 10 years, n.e.c. revenues have been used to cover the costs of the state-supported and long-distance services across the rest of the national railroad. and we understand in the northeast why that has happened. again, because we depend on support throughout the country and we need to bring the whole country together. but it just -- it's happening at the same time that the federal contribution to amtrak in the form of operating grants has declined. in fact, operating grants to amtrak are lower now by almost half than they were under a republican congress and president george bush. and here are the numbers.

you can see them. $1 billion in 2003. and they stayed about the same but operating as a percentage of total went from 50% to 24%. that's not necessarily a bad thing. for the past few years, some of my republican colleagues have urged amtrak to become more efficient and rely on federal operating grants. amtrak has done just that. in 2013, amtrak set an annual ridership record of 31.6 million and a ticket revenue record of $2.1 billion. but the reason my colleagues and i are speaking today is not to make it very clear -- is to make it very clear that weaning amtrak off federal operating grants shouldn't come at the expense of the capital costs in

the northeast corridor. the amtrak operating grant request for 2015 is $700 million, a fraction of the yoaf alof theoverall budget, lower te funding level under george bush. the total request is for $1.26 billion, a modest request over last year's $1.4 billion. this would allow all long-distance serviceman dated by congress to continue -- service mandated by congress to continue and, importantly, it would allow $300 million a year to come back into the northeast corridor's infrastructure. real money, money that hav -- t, if continued over time, can service loans to build new tunnels and bridges and fix up the tracks and stations, which we desperately need. it's an old, old system. and think of some of the immediate projects amtrak may have to forego if they don't receive the full request. the replacement of structural columns underneath philadelphia's beautiful 30th street station.

overhauling the ascela fleet, very on profitable, usually, we know, very full, to improve amtrak's on-time performance. and, extremely important -- because if they collapse the whole northeast corridor collapses and there' the transpn mechanism collapses and there's real harm to the economy -- reconstruction of the decaying infrastructure in the east river tunnels. this last project is particularly important, the east river tunnels, that is, for several reasons. it shows the massive benefits of this plan for people that use railroads that rely on amtrak, the passengers carry hundreds of thousands of passengers back and forth every day and are in a major state of disrepair. the proposal will allow amtrak to invest more, way more, in these vital east river tunnels, making them more reliable and improving travel for long island riders and n.e.c. passengers every day.

and a collateral benefit for all commuting new yorkers are that there are penn station improvements, the most heavily used transplantation hub in the country. the plan would fund these improvements and make them to happen quicker. the status quo is unacceptable. the current federal budget -- or the current federal funding requirements neigh the n.e.c.'s requirements to bigger, cost-of-living costlier and a far more damaging failure than we've ever seen. the long-term need to increase capacity and make needed repairs to our bridge and tunnels could not be clearer. several important segments, such as hudson river tunnels, are already at capacity with ridership demand at record level and growing by 2030. look at that, the need will be even greater. these are segments exceeding capacity by 2030. lots of them. in my state of new york, we've seen the economic cost of cost a

devastating event like hurricane sandy which shut down the northeast corridor for days. a one-day disruption along the northeast corridor can cost the economy $100 million. so i would ask my colleagues, both democrats and republicans, from states along the northeast corridor and from those of the rest of the country, to support an increase in an federal investment in our rail infrastructure. i know we can get bipartisan support because there's been bipartisan support in the past. senators in this body on both sides of the aisle have supported operating grant levels requested by trag in the past. in the longer term, we know we need to dedicate a longer passenger rail system. but in the mean time, mr. president, the nation can no longer afford let a railroad that carries half of amtrak's trains and 80% of the nation's rail commuters fall apart at the

seams. allowing the n.e.c. to keep the cash it generates will help benefit and support those same profit-making activities, helping to create a virtuous cycle of reinvestment. i hope that sound like something my colleagues across the aisle would support. if we want an interstate and commuter rail network for the next century, we must begin by fixing and improving the infrastructure from the beginning of the last century. that was a mission of our good friend, my dear friend, the late-frank lautenberg. avenues tireless and passionate advocate for improving our nation's infrastructure, especially our railways, because he knew it was better his state's economy and indeed our country's economy. we can honor that legacy -- his legacy by carrying on that mission. with that -- so i ask my colleagues to recognize this great need, as they have in the past. give the northeast corridor the funds and flexibility to reap

the benefits of its recent growth while still providing for service around the rest of the country. with that, i'd like to turn to my frerntiond friend, the junior from connecticut, to talk about his state and especially the relationship amtrak has with commuter railroads. i yield the floor. mr. murphy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: thank you. i thank the senator from new york for bringing us all together this evening to talk about the really vital economic porntion of the northeastern corridor to states like connecticut, new jersey, massachusetts, and new york. this is a pivotal moment for the northeastern corridor. we have a region that is growing with respect to the number of people who are using the rail but an infrastructure that is just dramatically aging. and i think it's important to remember about the connection

between investment in rail and the emergence of this nation's economic greatness. the rail line that means the most to us in connecticut was chartered in 1844. it was the new york and new haven railroad, and it was initially built to connect new york to boston, going through new haven, going through connecticut. later on it had a spur going through long island and then a spur connecting down to providence. and it was built at a time of massive rail expansion all across the country. in the last 25 years of the 1800's, where a lot of this expansion happened after the initial investment in places like new york and connecticut and boston, the expansion of rail in this nation led to a tenfold increase in economic output for this young nation. it allowed for enormous social

and economic mobility because if you didn't like the circumstances where you were today, tomorrow you could be halfway across the country because of a train. it allowed for the gradual evaporation of a lot of the divisions that were created because of the civil war. as people got to know other parts of the country, could move more freely back and forth, they began to understand what this nation was really about. one historian john hankie has noted that the railroads essentially transitioned are election i coolinelection coolid states as talking about it as "these united states "to "this united states." it is a small dinks but it suggests the -- it is a small difference, but it suggests a way the railroad has allowed the country to connect to itself. nowhere has it mattered more thank in the northeast correspondent demplet we have the highest scwentration of

population, the high eflt concentration of commerce, the highest concentration of ports of shipping and the highest concentration of rail lines. not only do we have amtrak running up and down the spine of the northeast corridor, we have ten commuter railroads, including metro north, a line that senator blumenthal and i are very proud of. but we've got 260 million passengers today that are using the northeastern corridor. that number is expected to grow in 20130 to 412 million. just tbhi that. we're talking about a time we're going to go from 216 million to 412 million passengers in 2030. if you ride a train from bridgeport to stanford or from stanford to grand central on any given monday morning or any given thursday afternoon, you are going to fail to understand

how that line is going to be able to absorb an increase from 260 million to 412 million passengers. we displiem have the capacity today to be able to absorb that increase. we've got 1,000 bridges and tunnels along the northeastern corridor that are badly in need of repair. some of them are 100 years old. the estimates are that over the next 20 years we have to spend $50 billion along the northeastern corridor simply to maintain the state of good repair. i wish this was a cheaper exercise, but it's not. just in connecticut we've got to replace a bridge in cascob that's going to cost $8030 million. the senator wig bridge has to be rehabbed. the sawing tuck bridge in west port has to be rehabbed as well for $300 million. the deafon bridge is $750 million. we have to upgrade communication and significant nails all o. long the new haven line.

and we've got an old age cat nary that supplies power to the trains. that's going to be $600 million as well. and in connecticut it's our lifeblood. i mean, we are nothing if not for the economic power that is driven by those trains. about a decade ago comic an economic report came out that really shook the state to its core. we talked about the great economic potential that connecticut has, as we sit right between the enormous job-creating hubs of new york city and boston. but it warned us that if we don't get serious about unclogging the arteries out of connecticut in to connecticut, that as in the words of the report, connecticut risks becoming an economic cul-de-sac. that's a pretty scary premise, the thighed we can be so close to all of this economic activity

but simply because people can't get to connecticut or get out of connecticut because of these aging rail lines, that we're going to ultimately be left behind. so what we're here to talk about is a principles of fairness. it is the only section of rail in the country that does make money because of volume and because of efficient management. profit that equals about $300 million a year. and we're not asking for the northeastern corridor to get anymore than we are owed. we just simply wajts for that $300 million, as amtrak has proposed, to be reinvested in the line. you're going to have to make these upgrades to the cas cob bridge, to the sawing s awvmenk river bridge. we have seen the consequences of

allowing our infrastructure to deteriorate. so while we make those investments today, why don't we make those investments at a moment where people need to go to work, when the repairs are as cost-efficient as you are going to get and when the line itself in the northeast is generating $300 million extra a year that right now is going to other parts of the country. i agree with senator schumer. we support a national amtrak. we strongly support a robust inner-city connection linking major cities, major urban areas with rail all across the country. but we have half of the trips just in our small region of the entire country, and so we think it's not too much to ask that, to the extent that we're profitable, that we get to reinvest that money into an infrastructure that is older than any other piece of infrastructure in the entire

country. and i'd say this: it's not just about fairness for the states that make up the northeastern corridor. the economic power of the northeast spreads itself out all across the country. the corporations that are located in manhattan and stamford and newark, they employ people in california and nebraska and south dakota and texas. and so our pitch to our colleagues outside of the northeast is not just that it seems to be the right and fair thing to do for all of this profit that is being made through the ticket fares that passengers in the northeast are paying staying in the northeast but that the benefit that comes from a well-constructed, efficiently run northeastern corridor, that benefit accrues to the entire country. so i'm really pleased that senator schumer brought us down to the floor today to talk about

how important reinvesting this $300 million is to the northeastern corridor. in my state, with metro north generating literally hundreds of millions of dollars in economic benefit to our section of the country, if we don't recapture this income, if we aren't able to make these repairs that i listed, then, as that economic report suggested, we really do risk in our state of connecticut ultimately becoming an economic cul-de-sac. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor.

mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i'm honored to follow the presiding officer and my good friend, senator schumer of new york, and my colleague and friend, senator murphy of connecticut, to talk about an issue that really affects our quality of life, our pocketbooks, and our environment. but first i want to join my colleague from new york in paying tribute to one of the great transportation advocates indeed one of the great public servants of our time, senator frank schumer, who preceded me as chairman of a critical

subcommittee on the commerce committee, which has authority and jurisdiction over surface transportation. i am tremendously honored to have followed him in that role, and my mission and ambition is to be as effective and eloquent and ardent as he was in this cause. it is a cause that brings us together as a nation. as my colleague from new york as so eloquently said, we are better when we come together as a nation and the railroads provide arteries carrying the lifeblood of our economy. not only commuters going to work, riders going to visit relatives, and enjoying tourism and other benefits of this great nation on travel and vacation, but also the freight that is

critical to carry goods and services. we know how this infrastructure is aging all across the country. we are in effect transporting goods and services, products and people, commuters and riders, in the 21st century, using 20th century equipment, tracks, and other infrastructure. we are talking indeed here about the economic lifeblood of our nation which has linked us coast to coast, north to south, east to west, in ways that are can economically hugely material and tangible but also emotionally and psychologically vital to our present and our future. these economic benefits will not

continue. they are not an accident of history. they are the result of purposeful invention and investment and we are challenged now as a nation as to whether we will continue to invest to assure that our railroads carry us, carry our nation, our freight and our people, to places they must go if we are to have economic growth and jobs in this nation. no one knows this fact better than we who live on the northeast corridor. it is among the busiest, in fact, the metro north line is the busiest in the nation. it has bridges and tracks that are more than a hundred years old, and we have seen, tragically, the consequences of

lack of proper maintenance and inspections, lack of proper management. and my colleague from new york has been a relentless and tireless advocate for improving rail service along the northeast corridor, most particularly in the area of our region around new york and connecticut and new jersey, and the recent tragedies, the derailment and in bridgeport costing lives, causing injuries, as well as the powrnlings that -- power outages that have disrupted travel for as much as 13 days and other kinds of disruption should lead to a new era of leadership at metro north and hopefully they will. management is critical, good management is key to making this

railroad work better than it has, making it more safe and reliable. good management is vital. but money, along with management, is absolutely necessary. in fact, management -- good management requires investment. and that is why we are here today not to talk about money for the sake of dollars and cents, but the investment that it means in the track and the bridges, the cars and other equipment that are vital to make this railroad more safe and reliable. now, we know some of this investment is small in amount. the senator from new york and i have championed the idea of cameras facing inward and outward compared to the overall cost of investment, that one is

relatively minimal. likewise, alerters placed in cabs that operate the railroad. cost relatively little. but other expenditure is much more substantial and one of the problems is that money has been going into the system, money taken from the riders and users in the new jersey and connecticut and new york area, along the northeast corridor, money taken from our area has gone to the system as a whole. as i mentioned at the beginning, far from begrudging the national system this kind of investment, we support it. but we need our share, a fair share, a necessary share, to make the investment that is

critical to bridges like saugatuck, connecticut river, nor walk river -- norwalk river. these bridges contain movable components. they're important for marine traffic as well as rail. they are frequently opened and closed. they experience more stress than normal. and the resulting corrosion requires trains to use reduced speeds. repair and eventually replacement of many parts of these bridges will be crucial for keeping train traffic safe and reliable along the northeast corridor, but also freight going to other parts of the country, riders going from new york and connecticut and new jersey to elsewhere along the east coast, and, indeed, across the country. it is a national investment, not just a northeast investment, it is an investment that we must make as a whole,

or our infrastructure will crumble and continue to erode. i am proud to join my colleagues here today to urge that amtrak's full funding request for fiscal year 2015 be granted. this amount will allow the northeast corridor's operating revenue to be reinvested back where it's needed most, the northeast corridor. and simultaneously it will provide much-needed federal support for rail networks in the rest of the the country country. a fair share is what the northeast corridor needs and deserves, a fair share is what we're advocating here, and as my colleagues have explained, the support that we offer and advocate for this northeast corridor really is a benefit to the whole country and is

consistent with national support for railway travel which eliminates congestion on the roads, raises the quality of our air, makes for safer travel, and maybe equally if not more important, creates jobs. this investment will help create jobs and drive economic growth. in the jobs it creates directly and the jobs it enables along the route where travel goes. i thank my colleagues for joining me in this effort, and yng -- i know in particular that there is a bridge in new jersey, a movable swing bridge along the hackensack river, i believe it's called the portal bridge that is a key linchpin in

the northeast corridor. having a functional portal bridge is essential to me as a resident of congress, when i go from washington to new york and then to connecticut, we are one country, we are united by that railroad, and that bridge, the portal bridge, a key linchpin in the northeast corridor, is as important to me as it is to my colleague from new jersey, who has been like senator lautenberg, a tireless advocate for rail transportation serving his constituents, and he has done model work on improving rail transportation in this country. i'm happy to yield to the senior senator from new jersey, senator menendez. the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: thank you, mr. president. i thank my distinguished colleague from connecticut for his engagement, for recognizing

my former -- our former colleague, senator lautenberg, whose passion for public transportation was unmatched in this body, who understood the nexus of why it was important to not just our state of new jersey and to the northeast but to the country. mr. president, before i continue i want to ask unanimous consent that theresa harrison, a legislative fellow in senator schumer's office be granted privileges of the floor for the duration of today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: my colleague from connecticut is correct. that portal bridge, it's called the portal bridge because it is a bridge that is a portal to the entire northeast corridor, carrying passengers over a movable swing bridge across the hackensack river between carney and see caucus -- secaucus new jersey is a portal to manhattan.

it's one of the busiest sections of the corridor with hundreds of passengers and commuter trains crossing it every day. and you think, mr. president, given its importance to the northeast and the millions who live in that region, that it would be a state-of-the-art, reliable, world-class bridge. that we would -- we would be willing to invest in making it the best possible. unfortunately, the reality is quite different. the portal bridge was built in 1910. it's over a hundred years old and deteriorating, causing significant delays for amtrak riders in new jersey and throughout the system. because of the low clearance over the hackensack river the ship allows ships to pass creating dplais nor rail passengers and more delays when the bridge doesn't lock into place because it's too old and doesn't work properly. delay after delay and because we

are -- all because we are unwilling to invest in our infrastructure. and that's simply unacceptable. when the bridge doesn't close, trains throughout the northeast corridor are delayed while amtrak workers scramble to fix it. further adding to the problems are speed restrictions that have been in place on the bridge since 1996. these restrictions have been deemed essential to allow trains to cross safely, hardly a comforting thought for riders traveling on the corridor. mr. president, the northeast corridor is the nation's busiest rail line, serving 700,000 every day. the line supports eight commuter railroads, every day carrying over 200,000 new jersey transit passengers. so failure to invest in a modern state-of-the-art system does a disservice to all of us, certainly to the commuters and it's an economic hindrance in a

region that supports 20% of the entire nation's g.d.p. there are other reasons, mr. president, to consider the importance of these investments. one is our economy. jobs. well, these intracity rail systems ultimately create an opportunity for people to get to employment, and to reach out to find employment and find better employment. it's also about companies who send their sales force up and down the northeast corridor in an effective and a efficient way. it's about those who might visit one of the great health institutions along the northeast corridor for a health challenge they face. it's about tourism from anywhere from the sights of new york or

new jersey or along the entire route, crossroads of the revolution, all the way to the nation's capital, washington, d.c. it's about visiting a loved one and having a way to do it that allows them to be able to afford to do so. and in the aftermath of september 11, we learned that a multiplicity of transportation modes was critical to security questions, because on that fateful day when every trans-hudson crossing closed down, the bridges closed down, the tunnels closed down, the ability to do intracity rail closed down, the one element that was open was a different form of transportation. it was ferries.

but imagine if -- in a different context if you don't have intercity rail to move people away from a location in which there was a september 11-like event, that, in fact, the cons qens that would flow. we learned after september 11 that transportation is more than about getting from one place to another, more than about sending a sales force, more than about even the quality of life and the environment by having more people on an efficient system. it is also another dimension of security in a post-september 11 world. so we must do better. as far as the amtrak budget proposal, i'm pleased that amtrak's fiscal year 2015 budget request takes a step in the right direction to improve its record of good repair and reliability in the northeast corridor. in spite of the challenges of aging infrastructure, amtrak in the northeast corridor is a

profitable, profitable rail line, generating over $300 million each year. yet under the current structure, amtrak has been unable to invest those profits back into essential projects like the portal bridge that is ultimately the portal by which all of amtrak's rail lines through the northeast have to go through. these profits have instead been used elsewhere on amtrak's system, subsidized long distance services that were traditionally a core federal responsibility. for too long, congress has failed to meet its responsibility on these routes, relying on the riders of the northeast corridor to subsidize other parts of the rail network. riders on the northeast corridor deserve to have profits generated along the line reinvested, not used as a substitute for insufficient federal investment. amtrak's new proposal will allow it to keep revenue generated by the corridor in the corridor.

a commonsense solution and a successful business model for the northeast. at the same time, amtrak proposes full funding for lines outside of the northeast corridor, making this a win-win proposal for america's rail system. and finally, making these investments now will help us prevent large-scale failures that could cripple our region in the future. unfortunately, we in new jersey know all too well the consequences of a significant transportation failure. when hurricane sandy crashed ashore in october of 2012, our transportation systems were inundated with water and severely damaged. we saw firsthand what happens when the transit and rail networks we take for granted are rendered unusable. residents were stranded, cut off from their loved ones and their livelihoods. sandy showed us just how much our region depends on its rail and transit networks.

as new jersey and its neighbors worked to re-- work to rebuild, we must take every opportunity to strengthen our infrastructure and prevent future failures of our transportation system. current federal funding requirements leave the northeast corridor vulnerable by preventing us from reinvesting in critical projects. amtrak's budget proposal is a straightforward solution. by keeping and allowing the northeast to keep and reinvest its own profits. at the same time, the proposal would maintain funding for other rail lines to ensure a valuable, viable national network. bottom line, this is a proposal whose time has clearly come. so it's time that we as a congress say enough is enough. 100-year-old infrastructure is simply unacceptable. it's time to make the investments that will support our economy and our quality of life, and i would add our security. it's time to live up to our federal commitments and fully fund our rail network, and i

certainly want to join my other colleagues in thanking our colleague from new york, senator schumer, for leading this important discussion about the future of amtrak. i urge my colleagues to support this budget proposal to fully fund amtrak's operating and capital costs nationwide and take the long overdue step of allowing northeast corridor profits to be reinvested into our critical infrastructure. now, let me turn this over, mr. president, to my colleague, senator booker, who until he came to the senate was the mayor of the state's largest city by which all of these different modes of transportation came together and for which the northeast corridor has a major station, and he saw as it related to his own community the realities of what the rail passenger system meant for consumers, what it meant for businesses and what it meant for our security.

and i would yield the floor to the distinguished gentleman from new jersey. the presiding officer: the junior senator from new jersey. mr. booker: thank you, mr. president. i just want to remark that senator menendez was absolutely correct. when i was mayor of new jersey's largest city, we sat upon a critical transportation super structure, a key node in the larger region. i want to thank my senior senator and i relied upon them for being the champion he is for infrastructure investment, for the critical nature of the rail lines that crisscross our region and really being a promoter of jobs, of business growth, of security and of the health of a critical system. and it's very good to have my senior senator make such important remarks. i want to pick up from there, mr. president. it's a little uncomfortable not having you here on the floor with me, but i will continue nonetheless, and i want to thank all my colleagues who have already spoken from neighboring states along this absolutely

vital transportation corridor. if this were a country of its own, this corridor from washington to boston, this area, we would be the fifth largest economy in the world. and this region continues to grow, with more than 12 million residents projected by 2040. in new jersey, our tracks and tunnels are simply no longer able to meet the growing demand of our amtrak and commuter rail lines. new jersey commuters like passengers up and down the northeastern corridor are profoundly frustrated by overcrowding -- overcrowded trains and by delay after delay after delay. it inhibits their transportation. it inhibits their productivity. it inhibits their ability to be successful because of those delays.

our underfunded passenger rail network forces too many of our residents to then drive where they end up stuck in traffic, contributing more greatly to smog and pollution and really making it even more dangerous for them and our already overall congested highways. amtrak needs the ability to reinvest the growing profit from the northeastern corridor back into the critical northeastern corridor infrastructure. this much-needed budget request would allow amtrak to invest $300 million in their profits back into this region and would allow amtrak to make overdue updates and repairs. this would create jobs at this incredibly important time in our economic present. it would create jobs and allow

our busy commuter lines to travel more safely and more reliably. we need this economic growth. we need to alleviate the problems with this infrastructure. we need to make the lives of tens of thousands of people daily better. one of the most important steps we can take to alleviate life ag

one of the most profitable regions ton grow. currently there are just two tunnels connecting new jersey to new york via rail. these tunnels are currently operating at full capacity with roughly 24 trains at peak hours carrying over 70,000 riders daily with no space for additional riders during rush hour. and in order to execute repairs and safety checks on these 100-year-old tunnels, amtrak is required to shut down an entire tunnel and suspend half the trips in and out of the city. this causes so much of a burden. this is an unnecessary burden. this is a threat to the safety

of thousands of new jersey transit and amtrak passengers. ridership demand in and out of manhattan is actually predicted to double in the coming decades, double. it is critical for the economic health of our region to do something to accommodate this increase and ensure that urgently needed growth and the safety and security of so many americans. the gateway project itself would build two new rail tunnels from new jersey to new york city and expand penn station in new york to handle all of this additional capacity. this project alone would create thousands and thousands of jobs. it would reduce commuter times and make traveling by rail more flexible and very importantly to resident after resident who have reached out to me, it would make it more reliable. this critical investment will

drive economic growth throughout that entire region. upon completion, the gateway project would allow amtrak to run eight more trains during peak hour and allow new jersey transit to run 13 more trains. this is a significant capacity increase and would take thousands of cars off the roads every single day. it would increase revenue for amtrak and new jersey transit. it would allow intercity and commuterring passengers shorter and easier trips up and down the northeast and in and out of manhattan, and it would improve significantly the air quality of our region, alleviating the respiratory challenges that so many people unnecessarily face because of commuter car pollution. in short, all of these reasons point to something critical.

it would make it easier for our region to be prosperous for businesses to grow and american opportunity to increase. it is essential that congress join with amtrak in advancing this important regional project and support amtrak's overall mission to deliver reliable, efficient passenger rail service across the united states. for amtrak to be successful in the long term, congress needs to become a more reliable investment partner and fund multiyear amtrak budgets, to have predictability in that funding, making it, again, multiyear. a current approach of lurching from annual budget to annual budget

support for the amtrak 15-year budget request would be a step in the right direction. and so i urge my colleagues, i urge them, to understand this critical understanding that we are a people who thrive through connectivity. whether it's virtual connectivity on the internet or human connectivity that we need in environments like this, one to another, working together. indeed, it's the words of martin luther king, written in a jail cell in birmingham, alabama, in 1963, in the spring of that year. almost 50 years ago, he wrote in profound manner. and i abea paraphrase, that we e all caught in an inescapable network tied in destiny. it was the elevation of his

understanding of the power of human connection, that we share one destiny and that when we exalt our connections, prosperity grows, equality grows, opportunity grows. but what king talked about in a spiritual way lives also in the physical, a country from its transcontinental railroads, a country that united itself in early innovations and a.m. or f.m. dials, all the ways we as a nation have made more robust connectivity, it has spurned industry -- it has spawned industry, it has made jobs multiply and multiply, economic growth, connecting american to american. right now in this critical time, we must continue. i hope that my colleagues will join me in making sure we support the amtrak's budget. i know from personal experience

the challenges and the trials and the dangers from the status quo. it's time for us to advance. it's time for to us come together to invest in america, to expand opportunity and make real in a physical way those deepening connections we have one to another. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

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mr. reid: ask consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i from time to time have to express my apologies to everyone, staff, presiding officer. i just can't come to the floor until we know what we're going to do tomorrow. and that takes a lot of time. i've had meetings going on in my office. and i apologize to everyone. i'm sorry that things take so long and it appears we're doing nothing but there are things being done.