The U.S. House of Representatives in late January released the proposed 2026 federal Fiscal Year (FY) final appropriations bills for agencies important to BLET and its members, including the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), the National Mediation Board (NMB), Amtrak, and the FRA Office of Safety. The House passed these final packages on January 22 by a vote of 341-88.
Overall, the final FY26 appropriations bills fund federal agencies important to BLET at levels similar to last year and rejects proposed cuts. This successful outcome is in no small part due to BLET and the Teamsters Rail Conference’s advocacy.
Notably for BLET and its members:
• The Railroad Retirement Board will receive a $1 million increase from $126 million to $127 million, which will help the RRB hire staff to answer phones, advance an IT modernization project, and process benefits in a timely manner, such as unemployment checks and retirement applications.
• The National Mediation Board maintains the same funding level at $15.113 million.
• The FRA Office of Safety gets $264.7 million, a slight decrease from the current level of $267.8 million.
• Amtrak is funded overall at $2.427 billion with the Northeast Corridor receiving $850 million and the National Network receiving $1.577 billion. That’s in addition to the advance appropriations it is receiving from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA).
The Senate is expected to take up these appropriations bills soon.