Avoiding a Rail Strike This week, it was announced that a tentative deal has been reached between union workers and Class I railroads, avoiding a threatened strike that would have halted the nation’s freight and passenger rail service. As Ranking Member of the House Transportation Committee’s Railroads, Pipelines, & Hazardous Materials Subcommittee, I was monitoring the situation and keenly aware of the significant and devastating effects a nationwide rail strike would have on industries in the First District and our country’s economy as a whole.    Rail companies had already been forced to begin making changes to shipping priorities to prepare for this threatened union action. President Biden should have stood up to his friends in the union months ago, rather than letting this brinksmanship continue for so long. Republicans introduced legislation to reach an agreement, while far left Democrats were willing to block such legislation and encourage a strike.   I’m relieved that an agreement has been tentatively reached to prevent a rail strike. A strike would have crippled our supply chain and caused further harm for American families already suffering from rampant inflation and signs of a recession.

H.R. 302 – Protecting Unelected Bureaucrats Act – NO  Prohibits re-issuance of President Trump’s Executive Order creating a new “Schedule F” class of excepted federal employees serving in “confidential, policy-determining, policy-making, or policy-advocating” positions that under current law would not be subject to change during a Presidential transition.  Limits future administrations’ control of the federal personnel which would further shield career bureaucrats from accountability to the American voter, making it even harder to remove non-performing or insubordinate government employees whose salaries are paid by the taxpayer.   H.R. 2988 – Limitless Whistleblower Protections Act – NO Provides whistleblowers with a private right of action and nearly limitless protection from investigation by their employers regardless of the whistleblower’s claims and actions   H.R. 8326 – Unaccountable Census Bureau Act – NO Delegates new authorities and protections to the Census Director, drastically decreasing the number of political appointees, and shields the Census Bureau from its accountability to the President under current law.  Further insulates the Census Bureau from accountability to the President by making the Census Director removable only for cause related to “inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office” Grants the Director sole authority to make operational, statistical, or technical decisions about the decennial census.   H.R. 5774 – Expediting Disaster Recovery Act – YES Authorizes the President to direct the Administrator of FEMA to provide, subject to amounts made available from appropriations, necessary assistance for meeting unmet needs as a result of a declared major disaster.   The funding is authorized to be used for repair, restoration, and replacement of damaged facilities, and individual assistance, including home repair and rebuilding, unmet needs for families, and emergency assistance for disaster-impacted businesses.

Fox Business Watch here: Rep. Crawford Discusses Inflation and Looming Rail Strike FOX16 Arkansas lawmakers respond to the Tuesday inflation report Rep. Rick Crawford spoke to the statistics behind the inflation numbers. “Bidenflation continues to roar, with prices rising at rates not seen in 40 years, since a show called Fantasy Island ruled the TV ratings. But now the White House grounds are Fantasy Island, a place where trillions of taxpayer dollars are spent without a moment’s thought, and their latest inflationary idea was to make fire fighters and nurses pay off the college loans of doctors and lawyers.  Americans continue to grow poorer under Biden, as prices increase faster than wages, and average weekly hours worked inch lower, putting economic security out of reach for even more families.  The new Congress that will take office in January must make Job One shutting down the Biden inflation machine, and ending Bidenomics for the rest of his presidency.”

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