[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 39 (Wednesday, March 1, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S561-S562]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                        Rail Safety Act of 2023

  Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, it shouldn't take a train derailment for 
elected officials to put partisanship aside and work together for the 
people whom we serve--not work for corporations like Norfolk Southern.
  That is why, this morning, I introduced bipartisan legislation with 
Senator Vance, my new Republican colleague, who has been here only 
about 2 months, and our colleagues Senator Rubio, Republican from 
Florida; Senator Casey, a longtime friend and Democrat from 
Pennsylvania; Senator Fetterman, also a freshman who has been here a 
couple of months, from Pennsylvania; and Senator Hawley from Missouri, 
to make trains safer as they go through places like East Palestine, OH.
  Railroad company lobbyists spent years fighting every effort that we 
could make to make our trains and our rail lines safer. Now Ohioans 
have seen it, and Georgia has seen it, and the Presiding Officer, the 
senior Senator from Georgia, has seen it in his State. Ohioans have 
seen these rail crashes, these derailments, just in the last 4 months. 
The one in East Palestine is the best known because the damage was the 
greatest. But there was also one in Sandusky, on Lake Erie, the 
greatest body of fresh water in the world, in the Great Lakes; and also 
in Steubenville, on the Ohio River. Those are the two greatest natural 
resources that our State has, the Ohio River and Lake Erie. It affects 
drinking water and all kinds of things--recreation for so many people. 
We have seen that all three of these communities are paying a price.
  Over the past month, I have been in East Palestine multiple times, 
talking with residents, the mayor, the fire chief, business owners, 
parents. I have heard their fears for what this means for their town, 
for their futures.
  I met with Melissa Smith, who runs a company, a candle-making 
company. I learned something from her and from my wife--that the best 
candles now are made from soy, not wax. They smell better and burn 
cleaner. Thank you for acknowledging that. Perhaps, it is better for 
the environment. But she owns this candle company that she and her 
daughter run.
  She and her husband, about 4 miles away, have a small farm. They have 
25 beef cattle. I think she said 25. She has regular customers. This 
isn't some huge stockyard. She has regular customers, and these 
customers, whom she sells to every year, buy a side of beef or a full 
beef and she tells me she is getting calls from these customers saying: 
I don't know if I am going to buy this year. Is your beef safe?
  She can't promise that, and they don't know.
  We agree we need to do everything in our power to make sure an 
accident like this never happens again and make sure these residents--
the 4,500 residents of East Palestine and the township, Unity Township, 
around it; and east of Unity Township, the township east is in western 
PA, Darlington Township--to make sure people's lives return to normal.

  Our bill would do a few key things. It includes new safety 
requirements for trains that carry hazardous materials. Governor 
DeWine, who served in the Senate before he was Governor, is 
particularly upset that these trains--these tanker train cars--can come 
in that are carrying hazardous material and not tell the State or local 
governments or, more importantly, not tell firefighters and people who 
are not trained to fight hazmat kinds of fires.
  The bill would also mean new rules to prevent wheel bearing failures 
like we saw in this crash. We know wheel bearing failures are the No. 1 
mechanical cause of derailments.
  It would require two-person crews on every train.
  Think about this. This train was more than 150-cars long, more than a 
mile. It has one locomotive at the front, then a locomotive about two-
thirds of the way or halfway back to help pull the train. There were 
only two employees. There were three this time: two employees and a 
trainee. But the railroads want there to only be one human being riding 
these trains--one human being on a train a mile long, 150 cars.
  We require a minimum two-person work crew on every train. It is a 
good first step toward making train and rail lines safer and protecting 
rail workers.
  It means real accountability when accidents happen.
  It raises the fines that, right now, are so low that they don't even 
make a dent in the profits of these big companies; it is just the cost 
of doing business.
  We have seen what happens: dangerous derailments over and over. There 
were three in Ohio just in the last few months.
  As Norfolk Southern's profits have gone up, accidents have gone up. 
That is not exactly shocking. They don't care about these communities 
and the damage they do, as long as they still bring in enough to do 
billions in stock buybacks to reward their executives. Last year, they 
did $3 billion in stock buybacks. This year, they were planning to do 
several billion more. They backed off after the train derailment, of 
course.
  In the last 10 years, Norfolk Southern laid off one-third of their 
workforce. You know what that means? It means track inspections by 
Norfolk Southern employees are more cursory, not as thorough, not as 
safe, not done as well. They can't be because these workers are so 
harried and have so much work to do.
  The rail companies cut costs by cutting corners and, as I said, 
cutting workers, leaving crews overworked and unsafe. It happens 
quarter after quarter.
  They report every quarter back to their Wall Street analysts all the 
ways they have cut costs, cut costs, cut costs. Communities like East 
Palestine be damned. These are the places that are so often exploited 
by corporate America.

[[Page S562]]

  When I talk about the dignity of work, I understand that my job is to 
fight for those workers and fight to make sure this never happens 
again. I will work with anyone to do this.
  I am thrilled that Senator Vance, my freshman colleague in his second 
month in the Senate, a Republican--we don't agree on the big issues, 
but we have listened to the same people and sure as heck agree that we 
need to do this.
  I will work to get these reforms passed that hold Norfolk Southern 
accountable to make sure they pay for every cent of the cleanup.
  As I said, Senator Vance and I come from different parties, but we 
come together for the people in our State, as I did with Senator 
Portman. Again, we have major differences on the big issues, but we are 
working together for Ohio. We pressed Federal officials to take legal 
action. We pressed for monitoring of potential long-term health 
effects.
  That is how you get things done. You listen to the people whom you 
serve and you find common ground with the elected officials, who should 
be your partners, regardless of party.
  As I said, it is what we did with Senator Portman again and again. We 
found agreement wherever we could and got things accomplished.
  Right after Senator Portman left office--he was maybe out of office 
for 2 days in January--he and I and Senator McConnell, who sits at this 
chair and is the Republican leader, with Governor DeWine, a Republican, 
and the Governor of Kentucky, a Democrat, and the President of the 
United States stood at the Brent Spence Bridge, a project we have been 
working on for 10 years. Three percent of GDP crosses over that bridge, 
connecting Senator McConnell's State and Cincinnati in my State.
  Senator Portman and I worked together to come up with the strongest 
``Buy American'' laws ever; to strengthen our trade enforcement laws to 
protect Ohio workers and Ohio businesses, like Whirlpool; expanding 
access for opioid addiction; the PACT Act, taking care of veterans 
exposed to those football field-sized burn pits and, maybe 2, 3, 5, 10 
years later, develop a cancer or bronchial illness. They need treatment 
and they show up at the VA, and because of the PACT Act that Senator 
Tester, my colleague and the principal writer, and I, who also helped 
write--which is named after an Ohioan--the PACT Act will save lives.
  I am hopeful that we continue that bipartisan Ohio tradition with 
Senator Vance, starting with these commonsense reforms to prevent other 
Ohio communities from facing another disaster.
  As I told the residents of East Palestine, I am here for the long 
haul. The last time I was there, I said to the mayor: I am going to 
keep calling you on the phone. I am going to keep calling the fire 
chief. I am going to keep calling Melissa Smith, who owns that candle 
company. I am going to show up. I am not going away until this is 
fixed, until people's lives are back to normal, and until Norfolk 
Southern is held accountable. When people who don't live in Ohio pack 
up in a week or two, we are still going to be there for months, for the 
next year--for the next 10 years, if that is what it takes to make this 
right.
  I hope my colleagues of both parties will show that same commitment 
that Senator Vance is saying and Senator Rubio and Senator Casey and 
Senator Fetterman and Senator Hawley. Join us to get something real 
done for the people whom we serve.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Ohio.

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