TIM BISHOP

A healthy Amtrak is an integral part of New York and the Nation's economy and transportation systems.

As a personal beneficiary of the service that Amtrak provides and as someone who represents a congressional district that counts on safe, reliable rail service, I am a strong supporter of providing this vital industry the funding necessary to continue operations.

In this time of budget cuts, we cannot forget that basic science is a building block for scientific innovation and economic growth in the information age.

While the wealthiest families completely benefit from the tax cuts targeted towards the upper brackets, middle-income families were hit with the unwelcome surprise of higher taxes on tax day.

Meanwhile, hard-working Americans are increasingly faced with workplace conditions in which critically important safeguards are watered down, emerging problems are ignored, and enforcement is scaled back.

For a variety of reasons, we are not producing at a given level of economic activity the jobs we used to have.

The residents and elected officials of Long Island have fought vigorously for many years and spent millions of dollars to preserve the quality of life that the Long Island Sound offers.

Inflation outstripped real wages for people who work for pay from others.

However, this President sees no problem eliminating funding for Perkins Loans in his budget, even though the cost of tuition is rising and will continue to rise as the administration's policies force inflation.

There are always, of course, job losses of a cyclical nature in a recession.

Foreign trade clearly holds down the cost of products we buy.

Amtrak offers riders a cost-effective way to travel throughout the country.

Our nation and those of the developed world must offer our own resistance to despot leaders who seek to commit murder on the basis of religion or race.

We have one of the few societies, the only one I can think of right offhand, where your health care is so tied to your job, so that when an American company has to hire, they have to think about health care.

In addition to joblessness, of course, by the working of supply and demand, when you have a larger number of people unemployed, wages do not rise at the normal level, so that we had last year a drop in real wages.

Foreign trade clearly has been a reason why inflation has been low.

Trade helps bring us products cheaply, but there is no guarantee whatsoever to assume that it will allow us to replace the jobs that have been lost, and there is no mechanism under productivity that says that, either.

The people who do not get jobs are often the most vulnerable in our society, and joblessness is a terrible plight for anyone who suffers from it.

In my district, the budget scales back and eliminates several long-term shore protection projects important to the safety and economic security of Long Island.

The fact is that America relies on Amtrak to move people.

This administration and the leadership in Congress appear to be intent on valuing wealth over work, thereby placing working families at a distinct disadvantage.

It seems to me morally a decent society will try to take some of the increased benefit and use that to alleviate the pain of the few who are bearing the cost that made it possible.

Real economic stimulus comes from real investment.

We need to send a clear message to gang members that violent crime will not be tolerated.

Transportation spending is a win-win proposition.