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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

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