Senate Panels Negotiate Rail Antitrust Rules

Members of two Senate committees are still working on details of how much to curb a limited antitrust immunity freight railroads now enjoy.

Sources in the rail industry say the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee has begun showing what may be final parts of a broad rail regulatory reform bill to stakeholders. But they say those parts did not include the potential antitrust language that is still being negotiated in Congress.

At the Senate Judiciary Committee, which approved a separate bill early this year to strip railroads’ limited antitrust exemption, aides in late November expected some version of that measure to be included when Commerce unveils its rail legislation.

The regulatory reform effort is being shaped by the staff of Commerce Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., along with aides to other leaders in that committee. The goal, many say, is to craft a bill all sides can accept, which would allow it to move quickly once the legislation is finally unveiled.

Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., sponsored the antitrust measure that was headed to the Senate floor for a possible vote last May. Commerce Committee leaders urged other senators to oppose it so it would not get in the way of the broader rail bill, and Kohl pulled it from the Senate calendar hours before debate was to start.

Kohl and Rockefeller soon issued a statement saying Kohl’s antitrust measure would be included in the eventual Commerce bill. Now, said Dawn Schueller, Kohl’s press secretary, “as per our agreement with Sen. Rockefeller last spring, we expect it will be part of the upcoming bill.”

She also told The Journal of Commerce, “We expect most of our bill to be incorporated as Sens. Kohl and Rockefeller agreed last June but are still working out the details.”

Source: Journal of Commerce