CEI Co-Leads Coalition Letter on Railroad Safety Act
Dear Members of Congress:
The undersigned individuals write to express concerns with the Railway Safety Act (S. 576). Safety advancement in any mode of transportation, including U.S. freight railroading, is critical; but public policy should be written to address specific problems. It should be rooted in data and pass the muster of cost-benefit analysis.
While the legislation that cleared the Senate Commerce Committee is better than the original bill introduced in March, it still includes far too many prescriptive policies, unduly favors organized labor, and would unduly empower unelected bureaucrats. This is why it garnered the support of just two Republicans on the Committee.
Sen. Ted Cruz, ranking member of the Commerce Committee, and energy experts have also outlined how the bill would disrupt domestic energy production, while the agriculture, propane, and intermodal transportation industries, to name a few, remain opposed.
The most glaring issues with the legislation include the following:
- The bill seeks to mandate that large railroads maintain two-person crews – the current standard set by voluntary collective bargaining – in perpetuity. Public policy groups have opposed this measure, also being pursued by the Biden administration’s Department of Transportation, because it is unneeded, ignores technology backstops, and would lessen competition. Two may seem better than one, and perhaps two will be the voluntary standard into the future, but lawmakers should not cement this into law, especially not in reaction to a February train derailment that included a three-member crew. Railroads should have the flexibility to adjust their operations in the future. This measure is likely why Sen. John Thune (R-SD) called the bill a “stalking horse for onerous regulatory mandates and union giveaways.”
- The largest section of the bill deals with the movement of hazardous materials, triggering an unfathomable number of future rulemakings pertaining to issues such as train size. As currently written, these rulemakings would avoid cost-benefit analysis (CBA). Conservatives have long championed the need for CBA because no human activity is 100% safe 100% of the time. Every activity involves some form of CBA. New railroad safety laws should certainly require them, including a survey of the likely risks created as railroads and shippers alter procedures to mitigate the cost of the new rules.
- Lastly, the bill also includes prescriptions on the use of trackside detectors, which exist today not because of regulatory wisdom but market innovation. Rather than dictate expansion of these proven technologies, government policies should seek to incentivize their evolution and adoption. Time and time again, when the federal government locks into a single technology the public suffers as industry lacks the flexibility or incentive to pursue next-generation technologies.
Railroads are crucial for the efficient running of the nation’s supply chain. That makes it all the more important that Congress pursue wise, cost-effective policies that benefit the entire nation, as opposed to ones that primarily aid a few well-placed special interests. Congress needs to avoid rushed policymaking that caters to special interests rather than addressing the issues at hand in a thoughtful, cost-effective manner.
Sincerely,
Iain Murray
Senior Fellow
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Sean Higgins
Research Fellow
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Paul J. Gessing
President
Rio Grande Foundation
James L. Martin
Founder/Chairman
60 Plus Association
John Shelton
Policy Advisor
Advancing American Freedom
Saul Anuzis
President
American Association of Senior Citizens
Steve Pociask
President and CEO
American Consumer Institute
Richard Manning
President
Americans for Limited Government
Brent Gardner
Chief Government Affairs Officer
Americans for Prosperity
John Hart
Executive Director
C3 Action (Conservative Coalition for Climate Solutions Action)
Garrett Ballengee
Executive Director
Cardinal Institute for West Virginia Policy
Ryan Ellis
President
Center for a Free Economy
Timothy H. Lee
Senior Vice President of Legal and Public Affairs
Center for Individual Freedom
Roslyn Layton
Co-Founder
China Tech Threat
Matthew Kandrach
President
Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
Nathan A. Benefield
Senior Vice President
Commonwealth Foundation
Hon. Kenneth “Ken” Cuccinelli II
Former VA Attorney General, Former Acting Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security
Benjamin R. Dierker
Executive Director
Alliance for Innovation and Infrastructure*
Steve Forbes
Chairman and Editor-in-Chief
Forbes Media
Adam Brandon
President
FreedomWorks
George Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom
Cameron Sholty
Executive Director
Heartland Impact
James Taylor
President
Heartland Institute
David R. Henderson
Research Fellow
Hoover Institution, Stanford University
Tom Giovanetti
President
Institute for Policy Innovation
Andrew Langer
Founder
Institute for Regulatory Analysis and Engagement
Ike Brannon
Senior Fellow
Jack Kemp Foundation
Alfredo Ortiz
President & CEO
Job Creators Network
Brett Healy
President
The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy
Drew Cline
President
Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy (NH)
Patrick McLaughlin
Senior Research Fellow, Dir. of Policy Analytics
Mercatus Center at George Mason University*
Matthew Gagnon
CEO
Maine Policy Institute
Charles Sauer
President
Market Institute
Douglas Carswell
President and CEO
Mississippi Center for Public Policy
Brandon Arnold
Executive Vice President
National Taxpayers Union
Marcos Lopez
Outreach & Coalitions Director
Nevada Policy Research Institute
Daniel J. Erspamer
CEO
Pelican Institute for Public Policy
Karen Kerrigan
President & CEO
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Mike Gallagher
Vice President
Washington Policy Center
Carol Platt Liebau
President
Yankee Institute
*Affiliation for Identification Purposes Only