- The U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works held a hearing on Thursday about a toxic train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio, in February.
- Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance called on Republicans to support his bipartisan bill to increase railroad regulations in response to the derailment.
- “Do we do the bidding of a massive industry that is in bed with big government or do we do the bidding of the people who elected us to the Senate and to the Congress in the first place?” he asked.
Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance delivered a passionate plea Thursday morning before the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works (EPW), calling on Republicans to back his bipartisan bill to strengthen railroad safety.
Vance spoke alongside Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown and Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. Bob Casey on a panel during the Thursday-morning hearing regarding the Feb. 3 Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, that spilled toxic chemicals into the air and water, according to livestream of the hearing. Vance implored Republicans who may be hesitant to be the “party of the working people” and support a bipartisan bill to bolster railroad safety.
“We are the party of firefighters, of police officers, of people who go to work, pay their taxes, fight our country’s wars and keep our communities safe. We are proud of that and we should be proud of that … but now we are faced with choice within legislation and how we respond to this crisis,” Vance said during his opening statement. “Do we do the bidding of a massive industry that is in bed with big government or do we do the bidding of the people who elected us to the Senate and to the Congress in the first place? I believe we are the party of working people, but it’s time to be the party of working people.”
The Railway Safety Act of 2023 would require carriers to make emergency response plans and notify state officials before trains carrying hazardous materials can enter a town and require a two-person minimum train crew. The legislation would mandate hazardous material training for first responders and better wheel bearing maintenance to detect overheating, which was identified as the cause of the derailment according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Casey and Brown both called on Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw to announce his support for the bill during their allotted time on Thursday, while Vance turned his attention inward and shared his concern “that there has been a movement in [his] party and in [his] movement, in response to the legislation that [he’s] proposed, that would not hold Norfolk Southern or the rail industry accountable.”
“This is an industry that enjoys special subsidies that almost no industry enjoys. This is an industry that enjoys special legal carveouts that almost no industry enjoys,” Vance said. “This is an industry that just three months ago had the federal government come in and save them from a labor dispute, it was effectively a bailout, and now they’re claiming before the Senate and the House that our … reasonable legislation is somehow a violation of the free market? Well pot, meet the kettle because that doesn’t make an ounce of sense. You cannot claim special government privileges, you cannot ask the government to bail you out and then resist basic public safety.”
Vance doubled down that the bill proposes “reasonable public safety enhancements” and that his comments were geared toward Republicans who “seem to think that any public safety enhancements for the rail industry is somehow a violation of the free market.”
He said that argument is a “farce.”
Shaw and several federal, state and local officials also testified before the committee.
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