From left: Rep. Rick Larsen, President Mark Wallace, and First Vice President Gary Best.
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U.S. Rep. Rick Larsen (D-WA) participated in a one-on-one chat with BLET National President Mark Wallace in front of an audience comprised of more than 300 BLET members to kick off the BLET’s Western Regional Meeting on August 19.
Larsen, the ranking member (top Democrat) of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, took rapid fire questions about his priorities for rail safety legislation in Congress.
In one exchange the Congressman said, “You’re the experts on safety. We’re members of Congress. We must learn the lessons of East Palestine and from other derailments and turn those into rail safety laws. We need two person crews. There were 34 new safety recommendations that came from the NTSB after the East Palestine investigation, so rail safety is critical.”
President Wallace indicated that BLET members are frustrated by a lack of action in Congress on rail safety. He also told the Congressman that rail workers are both angry and disappointed that they were not included in the “no tax on overtime” bill that was recently signed into law.
Larsen’s advice: stay engaged and keep fighting.
“It’s important that you don’t give up,” he said. “There are opportunities to fix this. Legislation never ends. There are always spending bills and transportation bills. These issues are still in play and we can get them fixed.”