[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 186 (Thursday, December 1, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6930-S6931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





                          LEGISLATIVE SESSION

                                 ______
                                 

  PROVIDING FOR A RESOLUTION WITH RESPECT TO THE UNRESOLVED DISPUTES 
    BETWEEN CERTAIN RAILROADS REPRESENTED BY THE NATIONAL CARRIERS' 
   CONFERENCE COMMITTEE OF THE NATIONAL RAILWAY LABOR CONFERENCE AND 
                       CERTAIN OF THEIR EMPLOYEES

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the joint resolution by 
title.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A joint resolution (H.J. Res. 100) to provide for a 
     resolution with respect to the unresolved disputes between 
     certain railroads represented by the National Carriers' 
     Conference Committee of the National Railway Labor Conference 
     and certain of their employees.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the joint 
resolution.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, for the information of Members, we are 
going to resume votes very soon, first on the Sullivan resolution, then 
on the sick-day resolution, and then on the concurrent, final 
resolution. Votes will be quick.
  I am glad that the two sides have come together so that we can avoid 
this shutdown, which would be extremely damaging to the country. I hope 
that we can add sick days under the Sanders resolution. And I urge 
Members--we are going to try to vote as quickly as we can to get this 
done.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. SULLIVAN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Van Hollen). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                           Amendment No. 6503

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, I call up my amendment, No. 6503, and I 
ask that it be reported by number.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Alaska [Mr. Sullivan], for himself and for 
     Mr. Cotton, proposes an amendment numbered 6503.

  The amendment is as follows:

                (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

        Strike all after the resolving clause and insert the 
     following:

     SECTION 1. CONDITIONS FOR RESOLVING DISPUTES.

       Consistent with the purposes of the Railway Labor Act (45 
     U.S.C. 151 et seq.) to avoid any labor dispute that threatens 
     substantially to interrupt interstate commerce to a degree 
     such as to deprive any section of the country of essential 
     transportation service, except as provided in section 2, with 
     regard to the disputes subject to Presidential Emergency 
     Board Numbered 250, established pursuant to Executive Order 
     14077 of July 15, 2022 (87 Fed. Reg. 43203; relating to 
     establishing an emergency board to investigate disputes 
     between certain railroads represented by the National 
     Carriers' Conference Committee of the National Railway Labor 
     Conference and their employees represented by certain labor 
     organizations), and the provisions of section 10 of the 
     Railway Labor Act (45 U.S.C. 160)--
       (1) during the 60-day period beginning on the date of 
     enactment of this joint resolution, no change shall be made, 
     by the railroads represented by the National Carriers' 
     Conference Committee of the National Railway Labor Conference 
     or by the employees of such railroads represented by a labor 
     organization that is party to such disputes, in the 
     conditions out of which such disputes arose as such 
     conditions existed on the date of enactment of this joint 
     resolution; and
       (2) the parties to such disputes shall negotiate during 
     such period to resolve any such dispute that is unresolved.

     SEC. 2. MUTUAL AGREEMENT.

       Nothing in this joint resolution shall prevent any mutual, 
     written agreement by the parties after the enactment of this 
     joint resolution--
       (1) to implement the terms and conditions established by 
     this joint resolution; or
       (2) to any terms and conditions different from those 
     established by this joint resolution.

  Mr. SULLIVAN. Mr. President, nobody wants a strike right now in our 
country. We have had challenges with supply chains. We have had 
challenges with finding enough workers with regard to our businesses. 
Nobody wants a strike.
  My amendment would certainly focus on not having a strike but making 
sure that the sides in this disagreement, between management and labor, 
get back to work to resolve the problems at hand. It is a simple 
amendment. It says we need a cooling-off period for 60 more days.
  Congress finds itself in another last-minute emergency being rushed 
to the floor of the Senate. We got the details of this about 24 hours 
ago on a very complicated subject.
  Since 2019, negotiations have been going on between labor unions 
representing railway employees and the railway industry over employee 
pay, hours of service, benefits, sick leave--complicated negotiations.
  Now that the negotiations have met an impasse, we have been asked to 
endorse a proposal that the Presidential Emergency Board has endorsed 
and that the union members have rejected. Complicated.
  Barring additional action, as I mentioned, there could be a strike 
that would harm our economy and workers and families and other 
businesses. Again, we don't want that.
  Here is the other issue: We also don't want Congress to become the de 
facto endgame for all future negotiations--private contract 
negotiations--enacting the agreements reached at the bargaining table 
or having Congress then dictate the terms of minutia in these contracts 
with regard to sick leave or other things.
  Now, I know Senator Sanders has a provision on this. It might be a 
great idea; it might not be a good idea. I don't know. But we got this 
24 hours ago. No hearings, no discussion.
  So all I am asking for is a 60-day cooling-off period so the sides 
can get back to the bargaining table, so the President of the United 
States and the Secretary of Labor, Secretary Walsh, can get involved 
and do their jobs. That is it: a cooling off period for 60 days, 
handing this negotiation back to the parties involved to resolve.
  Now, some people say, well, that is just kicking the can down the 
road. Well, there is precedent for this course of action by Congress. 
The legislation covering these kind of labor agreements contemplate 
Congress asking for additional cooling-off periods. We have done this 
many times before, including in 1986, where it actually worked. A 60-
day cooling off period. The sides went back to the bargaining table, 
and they resolved their issues on their own without the Congress of the 
United States having to come and dictate terms.
  As I mentioned, less than 36 hours ago, we were asked to decide on 
issues that are complicated, that are important--without necessary 
deliberations, without congressional hearings to gain knowledge and 
expertise required to make informed decisions.
  My amendment would certainly avoid a strike. We all agree on that. It 
will give negotiators more time to get to an agreement, and it will not 
make Congress the entity of last resort in these kind of negotiations 
where the knowledge of the issues that are very complicated have not 
been thoroughly studied and have not received the due diligence that I 
believe every American, every union Member wants us to have. It has 
worked before. Exactly this kind of amendment has worked before in this 
kind of situation. It can work again. I urge my colleagues to vote yes 
on my amendment.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I have an 
additional 10 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, we are soon to be voting on the situation 
with the rail industry, which is an enormously important issue, not 
only for the 125,000 rail workers involved but for the entire country, 
because rail plays an enormous role in transporting very, very basic 
and important goods that all of us depend upon. It becomes a health 
issue, et cetera, et cetera.
  But I want to take a half a moment to put this rail issue into a 
broader context and then get back to the rail situation. And that is, 
what polls are telling us and what I think each and every Member of the 
Senate sees and hears from his or her constituents is, people in this 
country are increasingly disgusted with the kind of selfishness and 
corporate greed that we are seeing.

[[Page S6931]]

  Now, we don't talk about it much, and the media doesn't talk about it 
much, but there is more income and wealth inequality in America today 
than we have seen in at least 100 years. And the gap between the very, 
very rich and the middle class and everybody else is growing wider and 
wider.
  And today, in the midst of this inflationary period, when so many of 
our workers are struggling to put food on the table, when they are 
falling behind economically, the billionaire class has literally never 
had it so good. These guys don't know what to do with their money. You 
don't know how many mansions they can own, how many islands they can 
have. Some of them are building spaceships to take them to Mars. They 
don't know what to do with their many billions of dollars. And yet, as 
we speak, 85 million Americans can't afford health insurance; 60,000 a 
year die because they don't get to a doctor on time; 45 million people 
dealing with student debt; families can't afford childcare for their 
kids. We have 600,000 people who are homeless in America, including 
people a few blocks away from the U.S. Capitol.
  The rich are getting much richer. The middle class continues to 
shrink. And if you want to talk about the excesses of corporate greed, 
then you have got to talk about the rail industry and what is going on 
here right now.
  Now, everybody understands that businesses sometimes have trouble. 
They lose money. They are in trouble. They go to their workers and say: 
Hey, things are tough, we all have to cut back. We understand that.
  That is not the case today with the rail industry. For the rail 
industry, business has never been better, recordbreaking profits. This 
year alone, for the first three quarters, their profits are up by over 
$21 billion. They have so much money that they are able to give over 
$25 billion in stock buybacks and in dividends.
  That is what is going on with the rail industry. One of the CEOs in 
the rail industry makes $20 million a year. Another guy makes $14 
million a year. They are doing phenomenally well. But what is also 
going on in the rail industry is that over the last 6 years, they have 
cut back on their workforce by 30 percent, which means that workers in 
the rail industry are asked to do more with less support.
  So for 3\1/2\ years, there have been negotiations between the 
industry and the 12 rail unions. And the end result of this is that the 
workers received a 24-percent increase in their wages. It sounds like a 
lot of money. That is for a 5-year period. They have not received a pay 
increase in the last 3 years. And if you average it out, that pay 
increase is less than inflation to date. It is not a great wage 
increase. It is not terrible, but it is not a great wage increase.
  I have heard talk about healthcare. They wanted healthcare. They 
didn't win on healthcare. What the industry, unbelievably, wanted to 
do, despite recordbreaking profits, is ask workers to pay more for 
their health insurance. That was beaten back. So they remain at a 
status quo. Not a victory, but not a defeat.
  But most egregiously, if you talk to the workers as I have--what is 
the issue? It is not wages. It is not benefits. Their issue is paid 
sick leave. They are one of the few industries in America today that 
have zero sick paid leave. Unbelievably, if a worker today on the rail 
industry gets sick, that worker gets a mark for missing work and can 
and--in some cases--will be fired.
  Can you imagine that? Here in Congress, we all--conservatives, 
progressives--we have staff--all of us, and people get sick. Of course, 
they take time off. You don't fire them. You don't give them marks. You 
don't punish them because they got sick. This is America, 2022. You 
don't treat people--especially in the rail industry, who are doing 
dangerous, difficult work.
  Now, I have to be honest. I know that the Secretary of Labor and the 
Secretary of Transportation have worked really hard on this issue. But 
I need to hear from them the willingness, which I think there will be, 
to demand that the industry do what has to be done, and that is to 
provide paid sick leave for their workers.
  I will have an amendment. I assume that is coming up in a few 
moments. This is not a radical idea. It is a very conservative idea.
  And it says, if you work in the rail industry, you will get 7 paid 
sick days. And I would hope that we would have strong support and the 
60 votes that we need to pass this very, very important amendment that 
is wanted by every one of the rail unions and, I think, is 
overwhelmingly supported by the American people.
  With that, I yield all time back.


                       Vote on Amendment No. 6503

  I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Is there a sufficient second?
  There appears to be a sufficient second.
  The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior executive clerk called the roll.
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Murphy) 
and the Senator from Georgia (Mr. Warnock) are necessarily absent.
  Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator 
from North Carolina (Mr. Burr), the Senator from Mississippi (Mrs. 
Hyde-Smith), and the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch).
  Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Idaho (Mr. Risch) 
would have voted ``nay.''
  The result was announced--yeas 25, nays 70, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 370 Leg.]

                                YEAS--25

     Blackburn
     Braun
     Capito
     Collins
     Cotton
     Cruz
     Daines
     Ernst
     Graham
     Hagerty
     Hoeven
     Inhofe
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Lee
     Paul
     Rounds
     Rubio
     Scott (FL)
     Scott (SC)
     Shelby
     Sullivan
     Thune
     Toomey
     Tuberville

                                NAYS--70

     Baldwin
     Barrasso
     Bennet
     Blumenthal
     Blunt
     Booker
     Boozman
     Brown
     Cantwell
     Cardin
     Carper
     Casey
     Cassidy
     Coons
     Cornyn
     Cortez Masto
     Cramer
     Crapo
     Duckworth
     Durbin
     Feinstein
     Fischer
     Gillibrand
     Grassley
     Hassan
     Hawley
     Heinrich
     Hickenlooper
     Hirono
     Kaine
     Kelly
     King
     Klobuchar
     Lankford
     Leahy
     Lujan
     Lummis
     Manchin
     Markey
     Marshall
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Merkley
     Moran
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Ossoff
     Padilla
     Peters
     Portman
     Reed
     Romney
     Rosen
     Sanders
     Sasse
     Schatz
     Schumer
     Shaheen
     Sinema
     Smith
     Stabenow
     Tester
     Tillis
     Van Hollen
     Warner
     Warren
     Whitehouse
     Wicker
     Wyden
     Young

                             NOT VOTING--5

     Burr
     Hyde-Smith
     Murphy
     Risch
     Warnock
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order requiring 60 votes 
for the adoption of this amendment, the amendment is not agreed to.
  The amendment (No. 6503) was rejected.

                          ____________________