Rail safety bill to be heard before Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday

The Senate Commerce Committee is set to vote on the Railway Safety Act of 2023 on Wednesday, just months after an early February train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. 

The legislation, introduced by Sens. JD Vance, R-Ohio, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, has enjoyed bipartisan support, including from both 2024 front-runners, President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the latter endorsing the proposal on Monday. 

"JD Vance has been working hard in the Senate to make sure nothing like this EVER happens again, and that’s why it’s so important for Congress to pass his Railway Safety Act. JD’s terrific bill has my Complete and Total Endorsement!!!" Trump posted on his social networking app, Truth Social. 

Experts say the bill will help improve safety across the country, after a series of highly publicized incidents, including the derailment in East Palestine. 

The bill has yet to receive endorsement, however, from the top Republican on the Commerce Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas. 

GOP sources say that is because Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), the corporation in charge of public transportation in the New York City area, could be one of the beneficiaries of a $250 million windfall over the next half-decade if the bill is passed this month by Congress.

The funding would be a last-minute addition to the bill – originally introduced in response to the early February East Palestine train derailment. A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed in the Ohio town, sending panic through the community. 

Amendments to the bill will be considered Wednesday in front of the Committee before moving on to the full Senate for a vote. 

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Senior Senate Republican aides tell FOX Business that part of the hold-up from the ranking member is questions about the provision added in the 11th hour that would enable commuter systems like the MTA – which serves the home state of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., — to receive increased funding.

The provision, titled "Temporary Defect Detection Assistance," would appropriate $50 million annually from the Department of Transportation (DOT) over the next five years to "commuter railroads whose contracts with Class I railroads." Those appropriations would then go to fund "defect detection technology" that would comply with the bill. 

Some GOP Senate aides claim that while the program could subsidize a number of other commuter rail systems, it was chiefly designed for the MTA, which would be the largest beneficiary if a formula traditionally used by the DOT to distribute money for transit money is enlisted. 

In total, 23 commuter rail agencies - from red and blue states - including two in Texas, could benefit from the additional funding, and it is unclear exactly how much additional capital the MTA or the other agencies would receive until the information is made public.

Separately, a different Senate GOP aide familiar with the negotiations warned that not every dollar would go to the MTA. 

"The suggestion that every single dollar of this funding would go to one place is idiotic. There are massive networks of commuter rails all across the country. Many of them are in Texas, where millions of Senator Cruz’s constituents rely on them for daily transportation," the aide noted. 

It is not unusual for earmarks to make it into final versions of legislation in Congress, with members from both sides of the aisle engaging in the practice to secure money for home-state projects. 

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GOP aides, however, claim the MTA benefiting in this instance is a particularly egregious example, given Schumer’s position as Senate majority leader and ongoing controversies with the transportation authority. 

"This is massive taxpayer gift to Sen. Schumer and a mismanaged transit system that’s lost so many riders it now flirts with giving away its product for ‘free’ in the name of ‘equity,’" said one senior Senate GOP aide familiar with the negotiations.

"Just since 2020, federal taxpayers have given or pledged $25 billion to the MTA, but it’s never enough for a system that tolerates lawlessness and the local DA – Alvin Bragg – who doesn’t want to prosecute fare evaders. The earmark is a slap in the face of every hardworking taxpayer who doesn’t break the law and pays for their own commute to work," the aide added. 

Indeed, the MTA has been the beneficiary of increased funding in recent years, including $16 billion in federal COVID relief funds, which Schumer has touted in the past, and a separate $10 billion from President Biden’s infrastructure bill. 

Still, the transit system faces financial shortcomings, with the authority narrowly avoiding crisis last month when New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, D, and state lawmakers reached a deal over a possible budget gap of roughly $3 billion by 2025. 

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According to recent statistics, MTA ridership is still below pre-pandemic levels, as crime and reliability concerns remained prevalent. 

It is likely the amendment will make it into the final bill due to the Democrat majority in the Senate, but sources say Republicans – including Cruz and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D. – will be offering an amendment to strike the provision from the bill on Wednesday, with Cruz possibly offering his own amendment to force the provision to be funded with money previously authorized for the greater New York area.