Nick Rahall: “in the Third District of West Virginia, we have 8,300 citizens who will benefit from the Railroad Retirement and…”

“in the Third District of West Virginia, we have 8,300 citizens who will benefit from the Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001. This ranks southern West Virginia seventh in the nation. My constituents have been calling and writing to me on an ongoing basis, asking me when this bill will come to the House floor for a vote. Today I hope to be able to tell them it will pass in the House and we can send it on to the other body, where we hope it will get speedy consideration. I want to thank the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Transportation Committee, Mr. Young and Mr. Oberstar, for working to bring this bill to the floor with overwhelming bi-partisan support. My constituents have been anxious to see this bill get enacted into law because it will double benefits for widows of railroad retirees, reduce the retirement age from 62 to 60 years of age with 30 years of service, and allow a person to be vested in the system after five years of service, rather than 10 years, as currently required.”