The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee unveiled on Thursday a bipartisan surface transportation bill that would authorize $78 billion over five years, including sharply higher passenger rail funding, along with tougher auto safety requirements.
The bill includes more than $19 billion in grants for U.S passenger railroad Amtrak over five years, a dramatic increase over the average $2 billion in government funding the railroad received annually before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The proposal, negotiated by committee Chairwoman Senator Maria Cantwell and the top Republican on the panel, Senator Roger Wicker, would also invest $28 billion in freight and other networks that use more than one mode like rail, highways and seaports.
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