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For Immediate Release: Rail Reform Bill Cleared for House Floor Action Washington, D.C. (Sept. 18, 2008) — Rail reform legislation has cleared a major hurdle for passage, as the House Judiciary Committee report on the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act (H.R. 1650) has been filed, clearing the way for the legislation to be brought for a floor vote in the House. House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-MI) filed the report Tuesday, which recommends the legislation be accepted by the full House. The legislation, which would subject railroads to the same antitrust law as all other U.S. businesses, passed his committee by a unanimous voice vote earlier this year. The legislation has also passed the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Increased competition in rail shipping is expected to lower the cost of the transportation of goods, which will ultimately result in lower costs for the consumer,” Conyers said. H.R. 1650, authored by Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), would repeal the railroads’ exemptions from antitrust statutes, effectively ensuring that the railroads play by the same rules their customers must observe. It would also permit the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission to review future mergers under antitrust law and allow rail customers to seek legal recourse to halt anticompetitive conduct. “For years the railroads have used their loophole exemption from antitrust laws to raise rates on rail customers and increase costs for U.S. consumer goods,” Baldwin said. “This virtual monopoly by the freight rail industry is unfair and unacceptable and it must end." Currently, railroads are not subject to U.S. antitrust law – the basic defense against the accumulation of monopoly power and uncompetitive markets. As a result, freight rail customers from a broad cross-section of the economy are effectively held hostage to railroad monopoly prices and practices. This results in increased costs for goods shipped by rail, poor service practices such as late or inadequate shipments, and a hidden railroad tax to consumers for goods shipped by rail. The Senate version of the legislation, S. 772, passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a unanimous voice vote last year and has been reported to the full Senate for floor action. The legislation awaits action by the full House and Senate. ### Consumers United for Rail Equity (CURE) represents a wide variety of rail customers
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