Nice play by the Red States

One more nail in the high-speed rail coffin: The House of Representatives voted to redirect $833 million from high-speed rail to Midwest flood relief. This is money that the Department of Transportation had awarded to Amtrak and Northeast Corridor states in May, but since Secretary Ray LaHood hasn’t actually signed the checks yet, Congress can take it back.Anti-planner

And Anti-planner gets the model:

So now the race is on: New Jersey Senators Lautenberg and Menendez and Representative Rodney Frelinghausen want LaHood to release the funds before the Senate can vote on the House bill. If he does, Congress will have to look elsewhere for funds for flood relief. If the Senate passes the bill first, then the Northeast’s loss is the Midwest’s gain.

The problem is the rate difference between the small state voter interacting more often with the Senator, vs the large state.
Somewhere in this conflict, some Senator will have the brilliant idea of using debt to settle the differences.