Industry News

Antitrust Bill Ousted from Senate

June 2, 2009 | 02:20 p.m. CDT

The Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009 (S. 146) won't reach the Senate floor for a vote today, as had been anticipated, reports Progressive Railroading.

Sens. Herb Kohl (D-Wis.) – who introduced S. 146 – and John Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) announced yesterday that they reached an agreement to include antitrust legislation in a different bill that would aim to overhaul the Surface Transportation Board (STB).

Kohl, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust panel, and Rockefeller, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee, asked majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to remove S. 146 from Senate consideration while they work together on a new joint bill.

Rockefeller previously stated that S. 146 would undercut his proposed legislation to overhaul the STB, a bill the Senate Commerce Committee is working to draft. Last week, he joined Sens. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), John Thune (R-S.D.) and Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) in sending a letter to colleagues that urged them to vote against S. 146, which was supported by some shipper groups and opposed by the rail industry.