Bill Pascrell: “thank God we are in the 105th Congress. That was a chart from the 104th Congress. Specifically speaking, in subtitle 5…”

“thank God we are in the 105th Congress. That was a chart from the 104th Congress. Specifically speaking, in subtitle 5 of title 49, section 24706, it is very clear what the language is that they are going to take out with the Quinn amendment. It says the following: Employee protective arrangements, Amtrak or a rail carrier shall provide fair and equitable arrangements to protect the interests of employees of Amtrak or a rail carrier, as the case may be, affected by the discontinuance of intercity rail passenger service. We are talking about the preservation of rights, privileges and benefits of the employees to continuation of collective-bargaining rights, the protection of individual employees against a worsening of their positions related to employment, assurances of priority of employment, reemployment, et cetera, et cetera. All that we are talking about in the LaTourette amendment is to place the words at the end of that section saying, ``unless the parties agree.'' They cannot even accept that. This is antilabor. I will say it here on the floor.”