Hotline #6-C - November 5, 1997

If Congress adjourns at the end of this week without passing an Amtrak authorization bill, it is likely that Amtrak's short-term credit line will be withdrawn next month, with a messy bankruptcy soon after that.

The Senate might vote on the Amtrak reauthorization, S.738, tomorrow. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R.-Tex.) plans to offer a substitute bill -- please ask your Senator to vote for that. If Hutchison is successful, and the bill is passed by the Senate, that will put some pressure on the House to act, too.

On October 30, Sen. John Kerry (D.-Mass.), the lead Democrat on the labor issues, and John Breaux (D.-La.), the lead Democrat on liability, reached agreements with Commerce Chairman John McCain (R.-Ariz.). Unfortunately, those deals fell apart of the weekend when the unions, trial lawyers and Democratic staffers got involved. Although one Hill paper today quotes Kerry as saying last week's deal is worthwhile if it saves Amtrak, he has yet to reach any new agreement with McCain this week.

It is vital that Kerry and Breaux reach agreement on the labor and liability issues with McCain, whether along the lines of last week's agreements, or something different. The bill can only come to the floor under the unanimous consent procedure that allows individual Senators to object. McCain will object if he does not think the proposal constitutes "real reform." He doesn't care whether Amtrak survives -- which is why the Democratic Senators must, in the end, compromise.

Your Democratic Senators should press Kerry and Breaux to reach agreement with McCain. Republican Senators should press McCain not to object to bringing up the bill.

DOT Secretary Rodney Slater announced on November 3 that Amtrak and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes had reached a tentative agreement providing for productivity increases and wage increases. Since the agreement relies on further actions by Congress, Amtrak reserved the right to cancel it if those actions do not take place. The union could strike 60 days after any such cancellation -- or the union could refuse to ratify the contract and be able to strike in early December.

Republicans are furious that Slater negotiated a deal that assumes further actions by Congress. These include not just passage of the reauthorization, but also funding bills Secretary Slater says the Administration would support. For the moment, however, the controversial new contract is taking a back seat to final efforts, so far in the Senate only, to get the reauthorization passed.

Senators who express concerns to you about the tentative BMWE contract should be reminded that reauthorization alone is not sufficient to implement the contract. Angry Republicans can still save Amtrak by voting for reauthorization, and still refuse to approve the other conditions later on.

If your legislators have questions about reauthorization that you can't answer, contact us by telephone, e-mail, or fax. Tell us whether you want us to respond to you or to your legislator.

Two weeks ago, Amtrak was a pawn in a fight between Western and Eastern House Republicans. Now the Administration is intent on not offending labor on anything other than fast-track trade legislation, a high-profile issue that pits the White House against labor. And the unions appear willing to prefer an Amtrak collapse to any kind of agreement that might in any way compromise their negotiations with the freight railroads.

In a separate matter, SEPTA commuter rail engineers who say they are overworked have threatened to strike as early as November 9 if service is not cut 15%.