Keep up the pressure on Railroad Retirement bill

CLEVELAND, November 30 — The National Legislative Office of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers today issued a reminder to all members to keep up the pressure on the Senate to pass the Railroad Retirement Reform legislation, which is expected to hit the Senate floor next week.

BLE Vice-President & U.S. National Legislative Representative Raymond Holmes reports that critical procedural votes will occur in the Senate on Monday, December 3, beginning at 5 p.m. (Eastern Time). These votes will determine the fate of the Railroad Retirement and Survivors’ Improvement Act of 2001.

GIA Legislative Representative Becky Schneider, who is lobbying with Brother Holmes on Capitol Hill, described the current situation as “do or die” for the bill, and stressed the importance of calling and/or e-mailing your Senators every day. The latest message for your Senators is as follows:

• Please vote no on Senator Lott’s cloture motion on Amendment No. 2171 to add energy and cloning legislation to the Railroad Retirement bill.
  
• Please vote yes on Senator Daschle’s cloture motion to add the Railroad Retirement bill to H.R. 10.
  
• Thank you for your continued support of the Railroad Retirement bill.

Yesterday, after difficult behind the scenes lobbying, members of the Rail Labor Coalition were able to convince Senators to overturn die-hard Republican opposition to the Railroad Retirement bill.

Yesterday, the Senate voted 96-4 in favor of cloture on the Railroad Retirement bill, which basically limits the amount of time Senators can debate the bill and prevents opponents from killing the bill by filibustering. The four Senators who voted against cloture are Phil Graham (R-TX), Don Nickels (R-OK), Judd Gregg (R-NH) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ).

Members can go to the AFL-CIO’s Transportation Trades Department’s (TTD) website to e-mail their Senators, www.ttd.org. They can also call their Senators’ district offices by looking in the blue government pages of their local phone books. Members wishing to call their Senators on Capitol Hill can use the Transportation Communications Union (TCU) Hotline at: (800) 284-2919.