Tagged: federal budget

Tomorrow is Amtrak’s National Train Day, a holiday that was started back in 2008 to celebrate US passenger trains. Here in Seattle, the King Street station was recently renovated with the help of funds from the federal government. But starting in October, the feds are cutting funding to Amtrak lines that are less than 750 miles long. The effects of the change will be felt here. Ross gets the details from Ron Pate of the state Transportation Department’s rail division.

We also hear from Sound Transit spokeswoman Kimberly Reason about the Sounder Train and Light Rail projects. Plus, Ross talks trains with Seattle Times economics columnist Jon Talton.

As the date of the sequestration nears, fingers continue to get pointed, but what if political infighting is really the fault of the constituents? Ross Reynolds talks with New York Times Washington Bureau Chief David Leonhardt about why he thinks it is the constituents that are to blame for the looming across-the-board budget cuts.

Recent debate over the future of the state's pre-paid tuition program and the continually rising cost of college raises a larger question: Who is going to pay for a college education? It used to be that Washington state paid most of the cost of a public university degree. Today, students must find most of the funds. As costs rise, how will society keep higher education affordable? William Zumeta heads the graduate program at the Evans School of Public Affairs and has written about the costs of college. He joins us to talk about how we can make sure people in Washington state can pursue higher education without having to go into crushing debt.