WASHINGTON — The U.S. Senate has passed a bill eliminating cuts to railroad unemployment benefits, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden for his signature.
S1274, the Railroad Employee Equity and Fairness (REEF) Act, passed the Senate today after earlier passage in the House of Representatives. It ends a tax of $50 every two weeks on rail employees’ benefits and will end government-mandated cuts to those benefits.
“Today marks a victory for our nation’s railroad workers,” U.S. Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), the bill’s sponsor, said in a press release, adding that the legislation “will right the wrong of unfair cuts and ensure that the people who keep our trains moving receive the benefits they’ve earned.”
Passage of the bill was hailed by both labor and industry groups.
“This important legislation provides all railroaders and their families with the certainty that they will have access to the full benefits they have earned,” said Association of American Railroads CEO Ian Jefferies. Greg Regan, president of the AFL-CIO Transportation Trades Department, said, “After more than a decade of waiting, passenger and freight rail workers will finally receive the full value of the benefits they have earned.”
U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) sponsored the companion legislation in the House of Representatives.
