Railways as well as reading, writing and arithmetic could be impacted by the federal and state budget proposals made earlier this month.

Amtrak could lose all of its federal funding under the president's budget proposal, while the University of Wisconsin System stands to get a combination of cuts and increases with Gov. Jim Doyle's proposal.

President Bush's proposed budget would eliminate all of Amtrak's federal funding, which is about $1.1 billion, said Marc Magliari, manager of media relations for Amtrak. The system currently uses $1.4 billion a year, according to a statement issued by David Gunn, president and chief executive officer of Amtrak.

"If the president's budget was enacted, it would force Amtrak into bankruptcy, which is not in the nation's best interest," said Harriet Parcells, executive director of the American Passenger Rail Coalition, a national group of rail businesses and equipment suppliers.

The government is pushing for a restructuring of passenger rail service, Parcells said. She believes significant reform is already taking place under Amtrak's president, and the president's proposal would have devastating effects.

In his statement, Gunn said costs are more under control now at Amtrak than ever before and called the president's proposal a "surprising disappointment."

Parcells said more people have been using Amtrak in the past year than ever before.

"The president's budget comes at a time of record rail ridership at Amtrak," Parcells said.

In fiscal year 2004, a record 25 million people rode Amtrak trains, an increase of over 4 percent from the year before, according to Parcells. The Hiawatha line between Milwaukee and Chicago saw a rise of 10.3 percent, according to the Amtrak fact sheet for 2004.

Congress has to approve the budget proposal, and both Parcells and Gunn said Amtrak has strong bipartisan support in Congress.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science & Transportation will meet today at to discuss the Transport Security Administration's budget proposal for 2006, according to a staffer for the committee. The staffer, who asked not to be named, said it is possible that the subject of Amtrak will be broached at the meeting, but there will likely be a separate hearing on the matter.

The funding news for Wisconsin is not all about cuts, however. Gov. Doyle came out with a biennial budget proposal of his own, which allows the UW System to add 125 faculty positions while eliminating 200 administrative positions and increasing financial aid.

"For the first time in more than 10 years, the governor's budget will add more funding to the UW System than to the Department of Corrections," said Melanie Fonder, press secretary for the governor.

The governor's proposal is less than what the UW Board of Regents requested, said Doug Bradley, UW System spokesperson.

"There are some good things here, but we are still looking at some challenges," Bradley said.

The request had asked for 300 new faculty positions and a 4.3 percent tuition increase. The governor said the tuition increase will now be between 5 and 7 percent, according to Bradley.

"The increase in tuition is directly connected to the amount of state support we receive," Bradley said.

The proposed budget allows a 34 percent increase in financial aid, which more than doubles the amount of financial aid from the last budget, Fonder said.

The UW System has had to shoulder a disproportionate amount of the burden of the state deficit over the past two years, Bradley said, having a cut of $250 million in the last biennial budget.

"It was pretty gloomy around here two years ago, but at least now there's some hope," Bradley said.

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Feb. 15 2005.