December Legislative Update
Railroad
Antitrust Legislation
The
Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee is still working on its
broad rail regulatory reform bill and has been showing what may be final parts
of the bill to stakeholders; however, some sources in the rail industry have
stated that those parts did not include antitrust language. The Senate
Judiciary Committee aides had expected some version of the bill that was headed
to the Senate floor last May (S-146, The Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act),
which would strip railroads’ limited antitrust exemption, to be included in the
Commerce Committee’s legislation. The challenge is to come up with a bill that both
railroads and shippers can accept. For a more in-depth background on railroad
antitrust legislation, see the section entitled “New Energy for Battle Over
Rail Prices” in the Legislative Update in the Spring edition of the Auxiliary
newsletter .
Health Care
Reform – Say No to Taxation of Benefits!
Although
the BLET has remained mostly neutral on the proposed Health Care Reform, BLET
members are urged to call their Senators to ask them to vote against any
attempt to tax the health care benefits of middle class Americans. The Senate
voted on November 21 to approve a motion to proceed with debate on a health
insurance bill entitled “The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,” which
is designed to provide all Americans with affordable health care coverage and
transform the current health care system to contain costs. The Act currently includes a provision that would
impose an excise tax on so called “high-cost” health plans, which would be
shifted onto workers and the middle class, and could force severe reductions in
benefits or excessive cost increases.
BLET
National President Paul Sorrow stated: “While we agree that all Americans
deserve health care coverage, it should not come at the expense of other
American workers.” Please call and/or e-mail your Senators and inform them of
the burden that the excise tax provision would put on working families and urge
them to work to have the excise tax provision removed from the final bill.
Surface
Transportation Authorization
In
early November, President Obama signed into law a continuing resolution that
extends through December 18 the existing 2005 Surface Transportation Act,
SAFETEA-LU, which expired on September 30, 2009. The continuing resolution
funds transit programs at the FY 2009 levels.
The Senate and the House are in a standoff over how to proceed with a
long-term bill for Transportation Reauthorization. Last July, the Senate
Environment & Public Works Committee (EPW) voted for an 18-month extension
to the existing legislation; however, Senate transportation leaders later
offered a 12-month extension, and most recently, EPW and the Commerce and
Banking Committee urged Senate leadership to accept a six-month extension. Chairman
of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee James Oberstar is
against the idea of a delay just for the sake of delay and has consistently
insisted on going ahead with his full $500 billion, six-year reauthorization
bill which he had hoped to have approved by Congress on September 30 when the
old bill expired. However, because the House Ways & Means Committee had not
taken up the revenue portion of Oberstar’s bill, he agreed to extend the
current bill until the end of 2009.
EPW
Chairman, Senator Barbara Boxer, has asked the Obama administration for help in
brokering a deal to get a new transportation bill moving through Congress. She
states that her extension would include a provision to again make available
approximately $8.7 billion in unused funds, which were allocated for highway
projects. Boxer states: “Once we pass a multi-month extension, we will continue
our bipartisan efforts to enact a multi-year surface transportation bill.” She
goes on to say that an extension will ensure the program can continue with
sufficient funding while Congress concentrates on a comprehensive and
transformational surface transportation bill.
In
November, New Jersey Transit began to participate in the Close Call Project, a
safety pilot program designed to give rail workers the ability to voluntarily
and anonymously report their observation of incidents that could have resulted
in an accident but did not. Reports are made
directly to the federal Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Workers at that
Bureau conduct interviews, then edit out any information that would identify an
employee, and send it to a labor management team at New Jersey Transit. The
team uses the data to make recommendations to prevent future mishaps. New Jersey Transit is the
third railroad, and the only passenger rail service, to become involved in the
project. Union Pacific and Canadian Pacific are already participating.