Obama administration officials on Tuesday defended the president’s proposal to place Amtrak under an executive agency budget instead of being reliant on direct appropriations from Congress.
Currently, Congress subsidizes Amtrak operations, but President Obama in his 2012 budget proposal called for placing its funding under the Federal Railroad Administration.
Filed under: Amtrak, Passenger Rail Politics
Trains For America 
So, would this be a good thing in the long run? I suppose it’s good under Obama, but what about under an anti-train president?
I can’t really say for sure.
I could see it somewhat shielding Amtrak from Congress as Congress would have to go thru the FRA but there are several legal questions.
Amtrak is a semi-private corporation. The railroads are the primary stockholders along with the gov’t. The board is appointed by the President.
So I don’t know if it can be put under the FRA. The FRA has no authority to “run” it or direct its operations.