Railroad Antitrust Bill Sidetracked

Today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) withdrew the cloture petition for S.146 at the request of its sponsor Senate Judiciary Antitrust Subcommittee Chair Herb Kohn(D-MN) and Senate Commerce Chair John D. Rockefeller IV (D-WV).  The bill would have eliminated present law railroad antitrust exemptions, restored railroad antitrust authority to the Justice Department and the FTC, and empowered states attorneys general and private parties to sue to stop anti-competitive mergers and acquisitions.  The Consumers Federation of America estimates that overcharges of "captive shippers" amount to $3 b., or 37% of the $8 b. of profits railroads reported last year.   If you are a consumer of electricity produced by coal, or of chemicals, or of agricultural products, or of paper and wood products, you are paying some of that monopoly price.  Those industries have banded together to push S.146 and its House companion, H.R.233 in the "Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE)."  The railroads, led by CSX and Norfolk Southern, are fighting back, and today's sidetracking of S.146 is quite a victory for them, at least for now.

In their letter to Reid, Kohl and Rockefeller stated, "The Commerce and Judiciary Committees intend to work together on comprehensive railroad competition legislation.  We hope to shortly have a bipartisan package that reforms the Surface Transportation Board and repeals the railroads' antitrust exemption available for the consideration by the full Senate.  We are working on harmonizing out two efforts to produce a robust reform package."

Even if the two are able to produce a compromise, it won't get Senate floor time until well after Labor Day because of the priority that will be given to appropriations, health care reform, and the Supreme Court nomination of Sonia Sotomayor.