[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4241]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



       RAILROAD RETIREMENT AND SURVIVORS IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 21, 2001

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to join my colleagues on the 
Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in introducing the 
``Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2001'' today.
  In the Third District of West Virginia, we have 8,300 citizens who 
will benefit from this bill, which ranks southern West Virginia seventh 
in the United States.
  The bill we are introducing today will double benefits for widows of 
railroad retirees, reduce the retirement age from 62 to 60 years of age 
with 30 years of service, and allow a person to be vested in the system 
after five years of service, rather than 10 years, as currently 
required.
  No taxpayers' dollars will be used to finance these railroad 
retirement benefits, which are paid by employer and employee taxes.
  This bill includes the exact provisions of H.R. 4844, which I helped 
to write last year, and which passed the House by an overwhelming vote 
of 391-25 on September 7, 2000. However, the Senate did not act on the 
bill.
  The bill is a product of two years of negotiation between management 
of the railroad industry and railroad workers. As last year's vote 
demonstrates, the bill has strong bi-partisan support. I will work to 
bring the bill to the House floor for a vote, and I expect to see the 
same strong support as last year.
  Once this bill becomes law, it will enable railroad retirees and 
widows to enjoy a better quality of life, by receiving the increased 
benefits which they deserve. They spent their working lives paying into 
their retirement and they deserve to reap decent benefits.

                          ____________________