The Honorable Mike Johnson
Speaker of the House
521 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-1804
The Honorable Steve Scalise
House Majority Leader
266 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-1801
The Honorable John Thune
Senate Majority Leader
511 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
The Honorable John Barrasso
Senate Majority Whip
307 Dirksen Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
Dear Speaker Johnson, Majority Leader Scalise, Majority Leader Thune, and Majority Whip Barrasso:
The undersigned organizations write to encourage Congress to advance a surface transportation reauthorization bill that strengthens the nation’s rail system, while avoiding regulatory provisions that would raise costs, restrict flexibility, and slow innovation across the U.S. freight network.
Freight rail is a critical pillar of the American economy. It supports agriculture, manufacturing, energy production, construction, and trade while providing an efficient and reliable means of moving goods nationwide. Effective rail policy should reinforce these strengths by promoting safety, investment, and operational efficiency while recognizing that the rail network is largely privately owned and depends on adaptability to meet changing economic and technological conditions.
Surface transportation reauthorization is intended to modernize infrastructure and improve system performance. It should not be used to insert regulatory concepts that have struggled to advance independently due to unresolved concerns about cost, practicality, and downstream economic effects. Including such measures in must-pass legislation risks undermining the broader goals of reauthorization and imposing new burdens on supply chains at a time when affordability remains a top concern for American households.
Rail safety improvements over recent decades have been driven by capital investment, evolving operating practices, and the deployment of advanced technologies. Tools such as positive train control, automated inspections, improved monitoring systems, and data-driven risk management have delivered measurable safety gains. Policies that lock operating decisions into federal statute risk slowing this progress by limiting the ability of rail operators to adopt new technologies or adjust operations to reflect real-world conditions.
One area of particular concern is the prospect of a mandate for two-person train crews at the federal level. While often described as a safety measure, such requirements are better understood as a nod to organized labor priorities rather than a response to demonstrated safety needs. There is no consistent evidence that a universal crew-size mandate improves safety outcomes across all types of rail operations. What is clear is that federal staffing mandates increase labor costs, reduce operational flexibility, and limit the ability of railroads to deploy emerging safety technologies.
Historically, crew size has been addressed through collective bargaining and operational decision-making tailored to specific routes, equipment, and risk profiles. Replacing that framework with a federal mandate inserts Congress into labor and operational decisions that are better handled outside of statute. Surface transportation legislation should not be used to resolve labor policy disputes or entrench operating models that may not reflect future innovation.
The economic consequences of cost-increasing rail requirements warrant careful attention. Freight rail costs are embedded throughout the supply chain. When rail operating expenses rise, those costs are passed through to shippers, producers, and ultimately consumers. Higher transportation costs affect the price of food, fuel, fertilizer, building materials, manufactured goods, and energy. At a time when Americans are already facing elevated costs of living, policies that increase transportation expenses without clear public benefit risk worsening affordability challenges across the economy.
Congress has an opportunity to adopt a rail framework that advances safety and economic performance simultaneously by emphasizing measurable safety outcomes and risk reduction, preserving flexibility for innovation and technological advancement, avoiding mandates that raise costs without clear benefits, respecting existing operational decision-making processes, and supporting affordability for consumers and businesses. A transportation bill that reflects these principles will strengthen supply chains, promote investment, and enhance long-term economic resilience.
We respectfully urge Congress to ensure that surface transportation reauthorization remains focused on modernization, efficiency, and long-term economic strength and avoids provisions that would increase costs, restrict innovation, or exacerbate affordability challenges.
Thank you for your consideration and your work to advance policies that strengthen America’s rail system and the economy it supports
Sincerely,
Cameron Sholty
Executive Director
Heartland Impact
James Taylor
President
Heartland Institute
Pete Sepp
President
National Taxpayers Union
Mario H. Lopez
President
Hispanic Leadership Fund
Yaël Ossowski
Deputy Director
Consumer Choice Center
Patrick McLaughlin
Research Fellow
Hoover Institution*
George Landrith
President
Frontiers of Freedom
Patrick Brenner
President and CEO
Southwest Public Policy Institute
Tom Giovanetti
President
Institute for Policy Innovation (IPI)
Ross Marchand
Executive Director
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Audrea Decker
Executive Director
Pro-Family Legislative Network
David M. Ozgo
Executive Director
Center for Transportation Advancement
Daniel Erspamer
CEO
Pelican Institute for Public Policy
Charles Sauer
President
Market Institute
Frank Lasee
President
Truth in Energy and Climate
Dr. J. Robert McClure
President and CEO
James Madison Institute
John Hinderaker
President
American Experiment
Matthew Kandrach
President
Consumer Action for a Strong Economy
Jon Decker
Executive Director
American Commitment
Grover Norquist
President
Americans for Tax Reform
Ike Brannon
Senior Fellow
Jack Kemp Foundation
Andrew Langer
President
Institute for Liberty
Kristen Walker
Manager, Senior Policy Analyst
American Consumer Institute
Joseph G. Lehman
President
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Robert Alt
President and CEO
Buckeye Institute
Steven Hatting
President & CEO
Washington Policy Center
Andrew Lewis
President & CEO
Commonwealth Foundation
Derrick Max
President
Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy
Carol Platt Liebau
President
Yankee Institute
Jackson Reese
President
California Policy Center
Matthew Gagnon
CEO
Maine Policy Institute
Matthew Paprocki
President
Illinois Policy Institute
*Affiliation for identification purposes only.
