Political Quotes

“there have been several issues that have come up on the floor that I think need clarification. One thing that has been said on this House floor is why is there a need for labor reform? Why can Amtrak labor and management not just sit down and negotiate through the collective bargaining process? I would point out to the Members that Amtrak is presently required by Federal law to make labor protection payments of up to 6 years of full wages and benefits to any employee who is laid off due to a route discontinuation or the reduction in service below three times a week. Now, there have been some statements also on the floor of this House that that is the same labor protection that the freight railroads enjoy. But that fact is not true. Reducing service below three times a week does not kick in the freight railroad protection. The discontinuation of service does not kick it in. Under the labor protection in this bill, if an employee is asked to move 30 miles or more, these labor protection provisions kick in. That is not true with the freight railroads. What we basically have by the protection that is in the bill today is we have our railroads competing with bus lines and airlines which do not have these restrictions, and they are losing money, and that is despite the fact that we have subsidized them to the tune of $19 billion between 1970 and today. That is something that we should not ask the American taxpayer to do.”