[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 80 (Monday, June 1, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Page S5908]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   RAILROAD ANTITRUST ENFORCEMENT ACT

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
with respect to resuming the motion to proceed to S. 146 be vitiated.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture 
motion with respect to the motion to proceed to S. 146 be withdrawn.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I wish to thank Senators Rockefeller and 
Kohl and others for their work in securing an agreement to work 
together on comprehensive rail competition legislation. I ask unanimous 
consent that the Dear Colleague letter they jointly signed be printed 
in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                                                  U.S. Senate,

                                     Washington, DC, June 1, 2009.
       Dear Colleagues: We wanted to let you know that we have 
     jointly decided to ask Senator Reid to withdraw the pending 
     cloture petition on S. 146, the Railroad Antitrust 
     Enforcement Act. We share the common goals of addressing the 
     longstanding concerns of rail shippers and making the rail 
     industry more competitive.
       The Commerce and Judiciary Committees intend to work 
     together on comprehensive rail 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 our two efforts to 
     produce a robust reform package.
       This is a high priority for both of us and we are 
     absolutely committed to finding real solutions that can be 
     enacted into law this year.
           Sincerely,
     John D. Rockefeller IV,
       Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation.
     Herb Kohl,
       Chairman, Antitrust Subcommittee, Judiciary Committee.

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