Passenger Rail Reform and Investment Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank Chairman Shuster and Ranking Member DeFazio for their work on this. It has been a bipartisan effort.

It has been a long time since we have seen a rail bill, and it's about time. We need to do something to improve our rail system. This bill authorizes $7.2 billion for passenger rail over the next 4 fiscal years and will help improve Amtrak's service and long-term stability. It has a wide range of support from all the stakeholders.

I have two Amtrak stations in my region, and both of them are in communities that are devastated by the economic downturn, and unfortunately, our small businesses have been slower to recover from the recession because they have less access to capital and information.

Section 208 of this bill directs Amtrak to submit a report to Congress within 1 year on the options to enhance economic development around the Amtrak stations. This provision requires Amtrak to issue a request for proposals seeking persons or entities to carry out these proposals.

My amendment encourages the process to be inclusive of socially and economically disadvantaged businesses while keeping the intent to strengthen multimodal connections, capturing development-related streams, meaning multiple revenue sources and better leveraging station assets.

We need to encourage our socially and economically disadvantaged small businesses a chance to provide their input and feedback on station development proposals in and around Amtrak communities.

A disadvantaged business is one that is at least 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more socially and economically disadvantaged individuals or groups. According to the Minority Business Development Agency, only 2 percent of all minority-owned firms are considered high revenue, meaning businesses with annual receipts of over $1 million. These enterprises account for 68 percent of total receipts and 61 percent of all jobs produced by all minority enterprises.

As these businesses grow and innovate, so does the rest of our economy. Our society and economy is made stronger from diversity, and socially and economically disadvantaged businesses should have information to compete and to be included in all the business development with public and private entities.

The Department of Transportation has done very well in recognizing the role that disadvantaged small businesses play in the community. We must ensure that this also remains true of Amtrak.

We need to see that these disadvantaged areas develop in sync with the money that is being spent. We just want to make sure that the information is there so they can compete on a fair basis.

My bill and this amendment is a chance to invest in our intercity passenger rail service and spur innovation, growth, and investment in the surrounding communities. I encourage the adoption of my amendment.

I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. McNERNEY. Mr. Chairman, the good thing about the amendment, it doesn't cost anything, and I think it will really help some of our disadvantaged communities.

As the chairman said, these are in the downtown areas that need the most help, so I encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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