UTU praises passage of Railroad Retirement bill in House

 WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 7) - The U.S. House of Representatives today passed a "clean" version of H.R. 4844 - the Railroad Retirement and Survivors Act of 2000 - and sent it to the Senate for consideration. 

The bill passed the House after approving a unanimous consent request by Congressman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) by a vote of 391 to 25.  

The version of H.R. 4844 approved by the House did not contain an amendment that would have repealed nearly all of a diesel fuel tax that had delayed passage. 

 "We would like to thank all of our Republican and Democratic friends in the House who voted for this historic bipartisan bill," said UTU International President Charles L. Little. "We also wish to thank all of our labor coalition members who worked side-by-side to push this bill through the House. Now, we have one more hurdle to overcome, and we believe the U.S. Senate will embrace our Railroad Retirement bill and approve it." 

Little thanked Rep. Shuster for his help in guiding H.R. 4844 through the House, and also thanked Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) for fulfilling his commitment to the "expeditious consideration and passage" of this legislation. 

UTU National Legislative Director James Brunkenhoefer said, "The next stop for this bill is the U.S. Senate.  We all hope that those who supported this bill in the House will continue their efforts in the Senate. This is the only way that we will achieve the goals outlined in this legislation that allows for enhanced benefits for more than 50,000 widows and an earlier retirement for many hard-working railroad employees."  

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