Republican Congressmen are so wedded to slashing federal infrastructure spending that they don't care that their own staffers are riding around on unsafe Metrorail subway cars.
That, essentially, was the charge that MSNBC's Luke Russert made at the close of a segment on Now with Alex Wagner devoted to bashing Republicans for proposed cuts to Amtrak and the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA).
Here's the relevant transcript:
MSNBC
Now w/Alex Wagner
May 13, 2015
4:20 p.m. EasternLUKE RUSSERT: I'll point out one example that I find shocking. You're originally from Washington, D.C., Alex [Wagner]. Metro. Metro is a service that a lot of Republican staffers here on Capitol Hill desperately use to get in and out of the capital. House Republicans want to cut the budget for Metro in half! Remember, in 2009, Metro had a deadly accident, over nine people were killed. They want to cut that budget in half!
So there really is no desire to necessarily help rail, unless -- even if it's beneficial to their staff, or if it's beneficial to people who work for them, because of this overarching idea of if it's not in my backyard, I don't necessarily care at this moment.
ALEX WAGNER: Well, fiscal hawkishness is, is real? Huh. Right?
RUSSERT: Indeed.
