CUE THE PROGRESSIVE AUTOMATIC RESPONSE:  U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) has used the recent Amtrak derailment as an opening to demand an increase in federal funding.

“We should not, the Congress should not put Amtrak in the position of choosing between positive train control and fixing crumbling bridges,” Casey told host Bob Schieffer on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“We have to do both,” he said.

“And we’ve got to make sure they have the resources to do that,” he said. “We don’t know the connection between funding and this incident, but regardless, Amtrak needs more funding.”

How about just making sure engineers don’t drive the trains at dangerous speeds? But that wouldn’t grow the federal government, so it’s not an attractive option for progressive/liberal federal politicians.