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Although 83 senators, including 37 Republicans, signed letters of support for the act, in the end, the Republican Caucus chose to disregard the needs of hundreds of thousands of railroad employees and widows and stood with their party leaders to defeat the legislation. Here is the story of H.R. 4844, as recounted by UTU National Legislative Director James M. Brunkenhoefer: On January 13, 2000, our office in Washington, D.C., was contacted about an agreement between rail labor and management on improvements to the Railroad Retirement system that had been negotiated by UTU International President Charles Little, UTU Assistant President Byron Boyd and other union leaders. It was a bold initiative that would benefit surviving spouses and current rail employees, while putting nothing at risk. President Little and Assistant President Boyd promised the Legislative Department any support needed, and both personally intervened at critical points in the process, never wavering in their commitment. Since the legislation had the support of labor and management, we expected passage would be a day at the beach. It was -- except that beach was more like Iwo Jima.
TWO UNIONS JUMP SHIP Hoping that UTU members would reject the effort, the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees (BMWE) decided to hold a series of meetings across the country to persuade members of all crafts to reject the package. The Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers (BLE) assisted by using their website to promote the meetings. Although their efforts were fruitless in gaining votes, they were successful in causing delays and planting seeds of doubt that later would be used by the Senate right-wing extremists like Gramm, Domenici and Nickles. Their efforts appeared to be focused more on casting doubt on the security, administration, and the constitutionality of the legislation than on securing gains for rail workers, retirees and widows. Over the course of the year, BLE doctrine changed from flat-out opposition to "unopposed" to "support." However, some of their state chairmen wrote letters of opposition to lawmakers, and their Vice President and National Legislative Director Leroy Jones spoke out against the bill to the AFL-CIO, planting more seeds of doubt. With the negotiation of principles completed, the plan was presented to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership: Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) and ranking member James Oberstar (D-Minn.) and their staffs. Cong. Shuster readily agreed to be our lead sponsor in the House, but Cong. Oberstar felt it necessary to see if he could do something for the two unions who, at the time, did not support the package. The BLE expressed some interest in Oberstar's efforts, but the BMWE outright rejected his offer, indicating it was either going to be their way or no way. Finally, Cong. Oberstar joined with Cong. Shuster in fully supporting the legislation. In addition, Cong. Rahall (D-W.V.) and Cong. Petri (R-Wisc.) joined the effort, becoming the "Big Four" of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. The Big Four and their staffs then began negotiations with the Democratic and Republican staffs of the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Bill Archer (R-Tex.). Numerous changes were made in the draft legislation to get the support of Cong. Archer's staff. After getting an agreement with the parties in the House, we attempted to negotiate with the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Labor Committee, which proved difficult. Rather than waste valuable time struggling with the Senate committees, it was suggested we go back and move the bill out of the House first. The principles of our agreement with the railroads were incorporated into H.R. 4844, which was introduced into the House on July 13, 2000. Shortly afterward, it was voted out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee by a 62-to-1 vote. The BMWE brought numerous officers to Washington to defeat the package, but were unable to secure more than one vote. The next step was a vote before the House Ways and Means Committee, which was scheduled and then postponed. The agreement was the result of long and detailed negotiations, and changes to the bill would likely change the terms of the agreement. More importantly, any amendments in the House would open the door for amendments in the Senate. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott had notified the coalition he was aware of the intent in the Senate to offer amendments he didn't support, and if they were attached to H.R. 4844, he would not move it and the bill would be dead.
ANOTHER ROADBLOCK When the railroads learned about the amendment, they chose not to inform rail labor. Had they done so, we could have successfully gone to the Democrats on the committee and blocked Hulshof's efforts. Making matters worse, Archer withheld this information from Shuster and his staff. On the day of the House Ways and Means Committee vote, Cong. Hulshof successfully added his amendment to H.R. 4844. Rail labor recognized it as a "killer" amendment, and was surprised to learn the railroads knew it was coming. Some wanted to have a major fight with rail management, but we would have killed our own bill. Rail labor immediately attempted to contact Cong. Hulshof's office, but was told he was too busy to meet with us. Applying tremendous pressure, we got the railroads to release a letter stating they did not support the repeal of the 4.3-cent tax as an amendment of H.R. 4844. Others in rail labor were still trying to kill the bill by delay. Were it not for delays before the Ways and Means Committee mark-up and vote, we would have been able to straighten out this problem and move to the Senate before the August recess. Still, House Speaker Hastert committed to move on the legislation immediately after the Labor Day recess, and he honored his commitment. Congress returned September 5. On September 7, Cong. Shuster went to the House floor, and to everyone's surprise, got a unanimous consent suspension of the rules. H.R. 4844 passed the House by 391 to 25, without the Hulshof amendment. When passed by the House, H.R. 4844 had 306 cosponsors. The day before the House vote, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) "scored" H.R. 4844 as a $15-billion cost to the government, considering the transfer of Tier II funds from government bonds into stocks as "spending," even though most of the money came from taxes on rail workers or railroads. We overcame this negative scoring in the House, but it would haunt us in the Senate. Shortly after the CBO scoring, the Clinton Administration issued a policy statement expressing concern about the CBO scoring. When our bill arrived in the Senate, Finance Committee Chairman Roth (R-Del.) promised expeditious handling by his committee, but the panel was still being pressured by the BMWE to hold hearings, causing additional delays. Around this time, the railroads indicated to the BLE they were still willing to offer health care benefits to them if they would support the legislation. The BMWE was given the same offer if they would drop their objections and remain neutral, neither supporting nor opposing the legislation. Time was running out for the 106th Congress, and Sen. Roth's staff felt it necessary to gamble on bypassing the hearing process and voting the bill out of the Finance Committee. It would require a demonstration of broad-based support for the legislation. Rail labor and management, working together, were able to receive 83 written commitments from senators supporting the legislation. By the end of the day, all amendments were either defeated or withdrawn. Despite our success at this stage, Sen. Gramm, Sen. Domenici and Sen. Nickles still had objections. Sen. Domenici wrote a letter to Sen. Lott filled with inaccuracies about the Railroad Retirement program and H.R. 4844. Domenici, along with Sen. Gramm, indicated that they would put a "hold" on the legislation and threatened to filibuster if Sen. Lott attempted to move it. Also at this time, we suddenly picked up opposition from the National Association of Manufacturers, the Concord Coalition, the Taxpayers Union and the Heritage Foundation, which used Domenici's letter to Lott as the reason for their opposition. The source of some of the information in the Domenici letter: The BMWE/BLE seeds of doubt. The Washington Post also printed an editorial opposing our legislation based on this misinformation. Despite these attacks, not one senator from either party changed his or her position. Our members had done a very good job getting our message out and correcting the inaccuracies. Sen. Lott then indicated he wanted to be helpful and initiated negotiations between Sen. Gramm and the coalition. After numerous efforts, it become obvious that, to satisfy Sen. Gramm, we would have to do grievous harm to the principles of our agreement. Sen. Domenici's goals were even more unreasonable. He wanted to fully privatize the system in such a fashion that it would not only bankrupt the retirement system, but the rail industry as well. Obviously, we could not meet their demands. We later learned there were a handful of conservative Republican senators that did not want to pass this legislation because it would have taken funds out of the Fiscal Year 2001 budget that George W. Bush could use for his tax cut for the wealthy. It was disappointing and frustrating that a handful of Republican senators, using the clock to their advantage, were able to cause such mischief. It became obvious that, in spite of Sen. Lott's interest, he was being held hostage by a small minority within his own party. I believe it is safe to say the railroads were shocked that this program, which they strongly supported, was being held up by the Republicans in the Senate.
SEN. LOTT OFFERED HIS HELP Now, everyone was working on gaining White House support. The White House staff became totally focused on getting the last parts of the Clinton agenda into law. We were attempting to have H.R. 4844 added to an already lengthy package. This literally would be the last piece of legislation Bill Clinton would ever sign. Because of the budget talks, and because this was an election year, negotiations involving Railroad Retirement went on and on, with responsibility for the legislation being pitched back and forth between House Speaker Hastert, Senate Majority Leader Lott and the White House. At the same time, House Minority Leader Gephardt and Senate Minority Leader Daschle were trying to be helpful. Every time we went into a meeting, we were told it was the other guy's fault it wasn't moving. The White House would report they would sign it when the Senate passed it, and the Senate said it would pass it if the White House would ask for it. Everyone was saving their negotiating chips for the final piece of legislation. Finally, the White House used a chip and sent a letter asking for the bill, just exactly as Sen. Lott had requested. Lott never opposed H.R. 4844, but he was never able to convince the handful of senators opposed to it that H.R. 4844 should move forward. Early in this process, there was a feeling by some that if the proposal was delayed, the railroads would put more on the table because they wanted it badly enough. Quite frankly, the delays provided Sen. Domenici, Sen. Gramm and Sen. Nickles with the timing to use the rules to kill the package. It was the BMWE/BLE who were partly responsible for the delay. Those who argued for and caused delays want to ignore the fact that their actions resulted in continued suffering for more than 50,000 widows, a failure to reduce vesting requirements, a failure to reduce the pension age with full benefits, etc. I am sure that there are some who do not care, or consider it a victory, but I am very glad that I work for leaders that do care. There are many people throughout our entire industry who played significant roles in this entire process. The response from those involved was simply overwhelming. Some House and Senate offices received more communications about Railroad Retirement than they got on the impeachment issue or on Elian Gonzalez. No matter which office you contacted, our issue usually ranked among the top five from constituents. I can assure you this cause was supported from the top to the bottom. It wasn't just President Little and Assistant President Boyd and the Legislative Department. Every level of this organization, including general chairpersons, local officers, the UTUIA, rank and file members and their families, played a role in this effort. Edythe Walter, president of the UTU Auxiliary, along with the auxiliary's National Legislative Director Dorothy Arrington, kept that organization informed and very active. The same can be said for our retiree organization and NARVRE. It took everything to get this far. I was amazed at the resources used.
MANY UNIONS PLAYED A PART The Air Traffic Controllers and the Communication Workers of America, who don't represent any members in the railroad industry, and the Seafarers, who have less than 30 railroad members, were also active supporters, as well as the AFL-CIO. Of course, we received a great deal of help from the railroads. I have been a Democrat all of my adult life and always will be. But I have to admit, this truly was a bipartisan effort. Without the support of members of both parties, it would not have happened. A majority of Republicans in both houses supported this package. They may have only done so because management asked them to, but they did it. It is extremely unfortunate that a handful of very conservative Republican senators decided to hold us hostage. Out of the 211 Democrats in the House, only two voted against us. In the Senate, all 46 Democrats signed on. Only about 17 of the 54 Republicans never indicated publicly they supported us. Even at that, several of those 17 quietly indicated they would not be a problem. It is quite obvious that the Republican party in the Senate is so fractured that Trent Lott is not a leader, but little more than a facilitator.
TPEL MAKES THE DIFFERENCE It is important to recognize we are not giving up on attaining these improvements to our Railroad Retirement system. We are up to the challenge. This time, we hope the BLE and the BMWE will not delay this package. It was delay that allowed a handful of Republican senators to use the rules to defeat H.R. 4844. Just consider this as another step in reaching our destination. Together we will get it done. And by the way, when you see President Little and Assistant President Boyd, pat them on the back and thank them, because when it is finally all over and done, remember it all started with them. |
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H.R. 4844: Behind the scenes