TWU International President John Samuelsen issues this statement on the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2024:
“This horrific legislation would gut vital investments in our national mass transit and railroad infrastructure – and destroy thousands of good, union jobs. It would be horrible for American workers, American families, American commuters and American consumers. This legislation would lead to massive Amtrak service cuts – and cause catastrophic funding reductions for critically important projects like the next segment of the Second Ave. subway, which is projected to carry hundreds of thousands of riders a day, and the replacement of Amtrak’s existing tunnel to Baltimore’s Penn Station, which is 150-year-old, is in terrible shape, and lacks modern fire and safety systems. Another project that would be decimated: replacement of the obsolete Point-No-Point Bridge in the New Jersey Meadowlands, part of a freight rail network moving nearly 7,000 containers a day to and from hubs in New York City, New England and Chicago. No one should vote for the future this legislation will bring.”
Read the letter President Samuelsen sent to Congress here.