I'd agree with you, but for a country so heavily dependent on a precarious resource like imported fossil fuel, to spend only $8 billion to secure your future transportation needs, seems like a joke. I mean, it is better than nothing, but it is nothing like what is needed.

I would back off this if I thought there were other reasonable alternatives, but there are none.

If the US doesn't start spending on high speed rail travel, how are we going to be able to conduct business when air travel between Chicago and New York costs over $1000? Or when the already bankrupt airlines decide the effort just isn't paying their shareholders.