President Obama will deliver his budget for next year to Congress on February 1, 2010. The White House team is working on that budget right now, and this is your chance to tell them to continue their extraordinary investment in high-speed rail so we can finally build a high-speed rail network for the United States.

President Obama began our nation's renaissance with high-speed rail one year ago by putting eight billion dollars in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – the biggest investment our country has ever made in high speed rail. He also requested that Congress fund high-speed rail in the annual budget at $1 billion. Congress more than doubled his request and funded high-speed rail at $2.5 billion in the 2010 annual budget. Now in the 2011 budget let’s fund high-speed rail at $4 billion.

Tell President Obama and the White House to fund high-speed rail at $4 billion in the 2011 annual budget. You will also send a message to your Members of Congress letting them know of your request to President Obama. While the growth in high-speed rail investment by the federal government has been extraordinary in the last 12 months, we have a long way to go to build the high-speed rail network our country needs in order to derive down business costs and shift away from using so much oil for transportation.

The House of Representatives voted to fund high speed rail at $4 billion in the 2010 annual budget, but the Senate would only agree to $2.5 billion. Please tell President Obama and Congress that the 2011 budget should include $4 billion for high speed rail.