President Donald Trump claims his infrastructure bill could have prevented Monday’s deadly Amtrak incident, but his own administration sought to cut funding to the nation’s rail system earlier this year.
In May, President Trump released his transportation budget, which dramatically slashed federal aid to Amtrak by 13 percent. The budget, which reflects White House priorities and serves as a guide for Congress, proposed deep cuts in funding for long-distance service, expanding transit lines and construction grants.
“I’m just looking at the smoking wreckage,” Sean Jeans-Gail, the vice president of the National Association of Railroad Passengers, said in an eerily predictive comment this May.