The House of Representatives on Wednesday passed a bill to avert a temporary rail strike by imposing a compromise rail agreement between rail workers and companies brokered by the Biden administration.
The bill passed in bipartisan fashion, 290-137, with 79 Republicans joining the vast majority of Democrats in passing the measure. The bill now heads to the Senate, where it is expected to similarly receive bipartisan support.
The vote came days after President Joe Biden made a plea for Congress to intervene, saying that a strike could have "devastating consequences" for the U.S. economy.
The bill House lawmakers passed would impose a compromise labor agreement brokered by his administration that was ultimately voted down by four of the 12 unions representing more than 100,000 employees at large freight rail carriers. The unions have threatened to strike if an agreement can’t be reached before a Dec. 9 deadline.
"I am grateful to Speaker Pelosi and House Democrats and Republicans for taking urgent action to prevent a rail shutdown," Biden said in a statement Wednesday following the vote. "This overwhelming bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives makes clear that Democrats and Republicans agree that a rail shutdown would be devastating to our economy and families across the country."
Lawmakers from both parties expressed reservations, but ultimately appeared to determine that the risk to the economy was too great to not take action. The intervention was particularly difficult for some Democratic lawmakers who have traditionally sought to align themselves with the politically powerful labor unions.
One prominent "no" vote came from Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who is angling for the speaker's gavel when Republicans retake the House majority in January. Eight Democrats also joined the majority of Republicans in voting against the measure.
Following the first vote, the House took a second vote on a measure that would add seven days of paid sick leave to the agreement. That also passed, in a much narrower 220-207 vote. Three Republicans – including Reps. John Katko, R-N.Y., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. – joining all present Democrats to approve the second measure.
After a meeting between President Biden and the four top leaders in Congress on Tuesday, lawmakers in both parties said they agreed to work together to avert the crisis, which could have devastating impacts on the U.S. economy.
“We will have a bill on the floor," Speaker Pelosi pledged. “I don’t like going against the ability of unions to strike, but weighing the equities, we must avoid a strike. Jobs will be lost. Even union jobs will be lost.”
"Water will not be safe, product will not be going to market, we could lose 750,000 jobs, some of them union jobs, that must be avoided," she continued. "Tomorrow morning, in the House, we will bring up the legislation, send it over to the Senate."
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., followed up Pelosi's comments by saying that he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would work to resolve the situation as soon as possible, ideally "much sooner" than the Dec. 8 strike deadline.
Biden said at the meeting Tuesday that he was "confident" lawmakers would be able to take action, noting that resolving the dispute was essential and Congress "has to act to prevent" a strike.
"It's not an easy call, but I think we have to do it," Biden said, adding: "The economy is at risk."
McConnell told reporters that "we’re going to need to pass a bill" to avoid the rail strike, signaling that Republicans will be open to joining Democrats to resolve the situation. In the House, McCarthy said after the meeting that he believes it will pass.
"The Senate must now act urgently," Biden said in a statement Wednesday. "Without the certainty of a final vote to avoid a shutdown this week, railroads will begin to halt the movement of critical materials like chemicals to clean our drinking water as soon as this weekend.
"Let me say that again: without action this week, disruptions to our auto supply chains, our ability to move food to tables and our ability to remove hazardous waste from gasoline refineries will begin," he added. "The Senate must move quickly and send a bill to my desk for my signature immediately."
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with Democrats, announced that he would object to fast-tracking the president's proposal until he can get a roll-call vote on an amendment that would guarantee seven paid sick days for rail workers.
Still, the bill to avert the strike received bipartisan support in the House, and is expected to be received similarly in the Senate. It's unclear whether the second bill, regarding paid leave, will make it through the Senate.
“It is with great reluctance that we must now move to bypass the standard ratification process for the Tentative Agreement," Pelosi wrote. “However, we must act to prevent a catastrophic strike that would touch the lives of nearly every family: erasing hundreds of thousands of jobs, including union jobs; keeping food and medicine off the shelves; and stopping small businesses from getting their goods to market."
The compromise agreement that was supported by the railroads and a majority of the unions provides for 24% raises and $5,000 in bonuses retroactive to 2020 along with one additional paid leave day. The raises would be the biggest rail workers have received in more than four decades. Workers would have to pay a larger share of their health insurance costs, but their premiums would be capped at 15% of the total cost of the insurance plan. But the agreement didn’t resolve workers’ concerns about demanding schedules that make it hard to take a day off and the lack of paid sick time.
Lawmakers from both parties grumbled about stepping into the dispute, but they also said they had little choice.
“The bottom line is we are now forced with this kind of terrible situation where we have to choose between an imperfect deal that has already been negotiated or an economic catastrophe," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
“This is about whether we shut down the railroads of America, which will have extreme negative effects on our economy," said Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, the No. 2 Democrat in the House. “We should have a bipartisan vote."
Republicans needled the Biden administration and Democrats for Congress being asked to step in now to avert an economic crisis. But many indicated they were ready to do so.
“This has got to be tough for Democrats in that they generally kowtow to unions," said Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind.
“At this late hour, it's clear that there is little we can do other than to support the measure," said Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla.
Business groups including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Farm Bureau Federation said earlier this week in a letter to congressional leaders they must be prepared to intervene and that a stoppage of rail service for any duration would represent a $2 billion per day hit to the economy.
On several past occasions, Congress has intervened in labor disputes by enacting legislation to delay or prohibit railway and airline strikes.
Railroad unions on Tuesday decried Biden’s call for Congress to intervene in their contract dispute, saying it undercuts their efforts to address workers’ quality-of-life concerns.
“It is not enough to ‘share workers’ concerns,’” the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes Division, one of the unions that rejected the deal, said in a statement. “A call to Congress to act immediately to pass legislation that adopts tentative agreements that exclude paid sick leave ignores the railroad workers’ concerns.”
“It both denies railroad workers their right to strike while also denying them of the benefit they would likely otherwise obtain if they were not denied their right to strike," the statement continues. "Additionally, passing legislation to adopt tentative agreements that exclude paid sick leave for railroad workers will not address rail service issues. Rather, it will worsen supply chain issues and further sicken, infuriate, and disenfranchise railroad workers as they continue shouldering the burdens of the railroads’ mismanagement."