1.1                             A resolution
  1.2             memorializing the President and Congress to support 
  1.3             Amtrak funding. 
  1.4      
  1.5      WHEREAS, Amtrak serves over 25 million passengers every 
  1.6   year, transporting people to 500 stations in 46 states; and 
  1.7      WHEREAS, For every one person who travels by air, five 
  1.8   people travel by rail; and 
  1.9      WHEREAS, Amtrak provided the most effective mode of 
  1.10  passenger transportation still operating after the World Trade 
  1.11  Center tragedy of September 11, 2001; and 
  1.12     WHEREAS, Amtrak constitutes the most effective, 
  1.13  comfortable, and energy efficient method of transporting large 
  1.14  numbers of persons over mid-range and long distances; and 
  1.15     WHEREAS, Amtrak's Empire Builder, which runs from Chicago 
  1.16  through Minnesota to the West Coast, provides significant 
  1.17  employment and wages to Minnesota residents, wages which help 
  1.18  support main street economies; and 
  1.19     WHEREAS, the federal government provides billions of 
  1.20  dollars in financial subsidies for highways, airports, and 
  1.21  waterways; and 
  1.22     WHEREAS, the proposed federal budget for fiscal year 2006, 
  1.23  which begins October 1, 2005, contains no parallel federal 
  1.24  financial subsidies for Amtrak; NOW, THEREFORE, 
  2.1      BE IT RESOLVED by the Legislature of the State of Minnesota 
  2.2   that it urges the President and the Congress of the United 
  2.3   States to support Amtrak and the proper funding of Amtrak in 
  2.4   federal budget for fiscal year 2006. 
  2.5      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Secretary of State of the 
  2.6   State of Minnesota is directed to prepare copies of this 
  2.7   memorial and transmit them to Minnesota's Senators and 
  2.8   Representatives in Congress.