A tragic accident occurred this morning when AMTRAK train 501 derailed in DuPont, Washington, killing several people and injuring dozens more. The incident is yet more disturbing evidence that our nation’s mass transit infrastructure is in desperate need of a major overhaul – which the President was quick to point out.
The train accident that just occurred in DuPont, WA shows more than ever why our soon to be submitted infrastructure plan must be approved quickly. Seven trillion dollars spent in the Middle East while our roads, bridges, tunnels, railways (and more) crumble! Not for long!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2017
For once, President Trump has made a legitimate criticism of past administrations. The government and Congress of the United States have squandered countless trillions of dollars and mortgaged our people’s future in order to pursue neocolonial wars of aggression that have achieved nothing but destabilize entire regions, kill untold hundreds of thousands of innocent people, and fill the pockets of weapons manufacturers.
But there are two serious problems with President Trump’s tweet. The first is that he has declared that he wants to “rebuild” our military and pour even more of our tax dollars into the insatiable maw of the military-industrial complex and has shown no sign of wanting to withdraw America’s excessive military presence overseas, indicating that he wants to continue spending more on American imperialism while our roads and railways crumble.
The second problem is that under President Trump’s proposed budget would cut funding for transportation by a significant amount. USA Today reports that railways, in particular, would be hit very hard by the President’s efforts to cut costs and pay for his tax breaks for the rich:
Trump’s proposed budget calls for a nearly 13% reduction in the federal transportation budget in the next year — cutting it down to $16.2 billion. The majority of funding cut comes out of railway systems: $630 million would be cut from subsidies for long-distance Amtrak service, nearly half of its $1.404 billion funding from the previous year.
It’s clear that the President has no idea what his own government is proposing to do to the budget – or he knows or just doesn’t care. So until Trump actually begins to do something to improve our nation’s infrastructure and puts our money where his mouth is, he can keep his admonishing tweets.
