Rail safety bill likely doomed despite high-profile backing

By Mike Lee | 07/26/2024 07:01 AM EDT

Election-year politics may be complicating an already troubled effort.

JD Vance during a rally.

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) during a rally this week. He's co-sponsoring stalled rail safety legislation. Paul Vernon/AP

Rail safety legislation remains stalled on Capitol Hill despite bipartisan support — including from Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance — and new momentum in the House.

Last year’s East Palestine, Ohio, derailment and chemical spill highlighted a string of problems in the freight rail industry — lax safety inspections, understaffed rail yards and locomotives, unsafe tank cars and poor communication with local emergency officials.

But the Senate has seen little action on legislation since the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee approved S. 576, the “Railway Safety Act,” more than a year ago. And the politics may have just gotten harder.

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Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) may not want to give Vance a win. And Republican leaders may not want to boost co-sponsors Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania — both Democrats in tough reelection races.

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