OTHER NEWS - May 26, 1995

House Panel Approves Amtrak Funding: The Transportation subcommittee on railroads authorized spending for Amtrak of $3.6 billion for five years, along with measures to make the national passenger railroad more competitive when subsidies ultimately end. The authorization calls for about $700 million more than President Clinton asked, but it foresees an end to subsidies to the struggling railway by 2000. Congressional aides predicted that the full committee and the House will leave the subcommittee bill pretty much intact. Amtrak was formed by Congress in 1971 to handle rail passenger service then provided by private lines, but it has never made a profit and relies on subsidies to keep running.