Hotline #726-C

Late last night Congress sent a bill to the White House that President Bush will sign. It sets the railroads running again, provides for a 38-day cooling-off period, and then baseball-style arbitration that means that arbitrators mush choose one side's offer or the other rather than come down in the middle. This is to encourage parties to make reasonable offers.

Yesterday afternoon, the House Energy and Commerce Transportation Subcommittee passed the bill on a 14-3 vote with "no" votes from Sikorski (Minn.), Collins (Ill.), and Richardson (N.Mex.). At about 6:00 pm, the full House Energy and Commerce Committee approved the bill, 37-5. "No" votes were cast by the three just mentioned plus Kostmayer (Pa.) and Bilirakis (Fla.), who was the only Republican "no" vote. At 9:30 pm, the full House passed the bill 248-140. Later, the Senate passed the same bill, 87-6.

Amtrak decided yesterday morning to cancel all reservations on overnight trains that originate today. In light of last night's Congressional action, it seems likely that Amtrak will decide this morning to restart all long-distance trains tomorrow, or as soon thereafter as is possible, given the logistics of getting crews in place and accomplishing the FRA-required track inspections for passenger-train operations.

The Machinists struck CSX early on June 24 and the freight railroads responded with a lock-out.