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PAD-80-45 1 (1980-03-28)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaball0001 and id is 1 raw text is: .... I f o BY THE COMPTROLLER GENERAL Report To The Congress OF THE UNITED STATES Alternatives For Eliminating Amtrak's Debt To The Government Amtrak has never made a profit and is un- likely to repay its Federal loans. The Amtrak Reorganization Act of 1979 (P.L. 96-73) re- quires the Comptroller General to recommend appropriate means to eliminate these loan obligations, which amount to $850 million. The Government should acknowledge that the loans are unrecoverable and write them off. What is the best way to eliminate Amtrak's obligations? Originally the Government only guaranteed funds to help Amtrak revitalize its rail passen- ger service. These guarantees became direct Federal loans outside the budgetary control of the Congress and were never recorded in the Federal budget. Any approach to eliminat- ing the debt should fully disclose the transac- tion in budget totals and should be subject to congressional budgetary control. After analyzing several alternatives, GAO rec- ommends that the Congress retire the loans with a one-time appropriation of $850 million. A condition of retirement should be the con- tinued protection of the Government's collat- eral interest in the loans. 112054 PAD-80-45 '1CCt0 j MARCH 28, 1980