Illinois General Assembly - Full Text of HR0724
Illinois General Assembly

Previous General Assemblies

Full Text of HR0724  96th General Assembly

HR0724 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY


  

 


 
HR0724 LRB096 15382 GRL 30537 r

1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, Both the public and numerous states have shown
3 great interest in high-speed rail as an efficient and
4 environmentally friendly means of moving people and creating
5 economic activity; and
 
6     WHEREAS, A 2,250-mile Midwestern high-speed rail network
7 as envisioned under the United States Department of
8 Transportation’s high-speed corridor designations could create
9 more than 1 million permanent jobs and more than 450,000
10 construction jobs in the region; and
 
11     WHEREAS, Outside of California, the Midwest has the highest
12 concentration of cities with a population of more than 300,000;
13 most of those cities, including Chicago, Detroit,
14 Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Minneapolis, St. Louis,
15 and Cincinnati, could be served by a Midwest high-speed rail
16 network; these metropolitan areas alone represent nearly 10% of
17 the U.S. population and the Midwest region is home to one-third
18 of the U.S. population; and
 
19     WHEREAS, In 2009, President Obama and the United States
20 Congress demonstrated leadership and vision by jumpstarting
21 high speed rail plans in the United States with an $8 billion
22 allocation for high speed rail funding in the American Recovery

 

 

HR0724 - 2 - LRB096 15382 GRL 30537 r

1 and Reinvestment Act; and
 
2     WHEREAS, The Federal Rail Administration received
3 pre-applications from 40 states totaling $103 billion this year
4 and ultimately received 45 applications from 23 states totaling
5 $50 billion, as well as an additional $7 billion in requests
6 for corridor studies; these figures ultimately dwarfed the $8
7 billion to be allocated under the American Recovery and
8 Reinvestment Act; and
 
9     WHEREAS, In order to meet the demonstrated demand for high
10 speed rail of at least $57 billion, the federal government
11 needs to spend $8 billion every year for the next 7 years; and
 
12     WHEREAS, The United States Congress is currently debating
13 the amount of high speed rail funding to put into the annual
14 budget this fall; while the U.S. House of Representatives
15 appropriated $4 billion in the 2010 transportation
16 appropriations bill (H.R. 3288), the U.S. Senate only
17 appropriated $1.2 billion in its version; and
 
18     WHEREAS, A conference committee is set to finalize the
19 allocation of high speed rail funding in the FY2010 federal
20 budget; and
 
21     WHEREAS, The amount of high speed rail funding in the first

 

 

HR0724 - 3 - LRB096 15382 GRL 30537 r

1 federal budget since passage of the stimulus bill will
2 determine whether or not the nation will continue to
3 aggressively invest in high speed rail; the difference between
4 the House's $4 billion allocation for high speed rail and the
5 Senate's $1.2 billion for high speed rail is dramatic; and
 
6     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has appropriated funds for
7 high speed rail; the Illinois General Assembly has allocated
8 more than $850 million for railroad infrastructure in the
9 capital bill, the single largest legislative-enacted
10 appropriation of any state in the history of the nation for
11 railroad infrastructure; therefore, be it
 
12     RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
13 NINETY-SIXTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
14 urge the United States Senate to agree with the United States
15 House of Representatives and spend $4 billion on high speed
16 rail in the FY2010 budget in order to match the commitment to
17 high speed rail demonstrated by the State of Illinois; and be
18 it further
 
19     RESOLVED, That we specifically urge U.S. Senators Dick
20 Durbin and Roland Burris to push for a $4 billion allocation
21 for high speed rail in the FY2010 budget; and be it further
 
22     RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be

 

 

HR0724 - 4 - LRB096 15382 GRL 30537 r

1 presented to the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United
2 States Senate and United States Senators Dick Durbin and Roland
3 Burris.