Rail groups, union urge Congress to maintain Railroad Retirement Board funding

The Association of American Railroads (AAR), American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) and Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD ) have united to write to U.S. Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) and U.S. Reps. Kay Granger (R-Texas) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) to oppose cuts to administrative funding for the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB).

The cuts are included in the fiscal-year 2024 House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) appropriations bill. The letters urged the lawmakers to support the limitation included in the FY24 Senate Labor-HHS bill instead.

As passed by the House Labor-HHS Subcommittee on July 14, the House FY 24 bill would cap RRB’s administrative funding at $103 million, a $25 million decrease from FY23 funding, which is maintained in the Senate FY24 bill, and over $35 million below the President Biden's FY24 budget request.

"We urge you to remove this draconian limit on RRB’s administrative funding and support the limitation in the Senate bill, which maintains FY23 funding levels and allows the agency to maintain its current employment levels and continue providing strong service to the over 530,000 beneficiaries currently served by the employees as well as 200,000 active railroad employees relying on these benefits in the future," the letter states.