Congress has decided that high-speed rail spending bad, but airline subsidies are very, very good:
The House has rejected an attempt to cut off subsidized air travel to rural towns and cities where taxpayer costs exceed $250 per ticket.
The current permissible subsidy is $1,000 per ticket. That’s forced just a handful of communities to lose service. New reforms in a transportation funding bill being debated by the House cut those subsidies to $500 a ticket or $1,000 per round trip to airports subsidized by the $200 million-plus Essential Air Service program.
Systemic Failure 
The article says “$200 billion” but you wrote “$200 million,” I’m assuming (hoping?) its “million.”
Yes, the article confused billion for million.
[…] poor land-use regulations in the greater St. Louis area are hindering transit-oriented development. Systemic Failure points out that even in these times of government austerity, Congress never faltered in its support […]
Essential Air Service: the most misleading name ever.