Joe Biden urges Congress to 'immediately' pass legislation to ward off a US rail shutdown

With the spiking prices and halted factory production, a rail strike can become a reality for the US, disrupting the rail services for around seven million travellers a day.

Amidst the chaos, US President Joe Biden urged Congress to “immediately” pass legislation to avert a possible rail shutdown. On Monday, the US President called on Capitol Hill to pass legislation immediately, “to adopt the Tentative Agreement between railroad workers and operators – without any modifications or delay – to avert a potentially crippling national rail shutdown.”

Commenting on Biden’s urgency, the Democratic leaders have now said that they can act upon Biden’s request within this week. Urging the capital hill that the Tentative Agreement has been approved by labour and management negotiators in September, Biden said, “On the day that it was announced, labour leaders, business leaders, and elected officials all hailed it as a fair resolution of the dispute between the hard-working men and women of the rail freight unions and the companies in that industry,” adding, "Since that time, the majority of the unions in the industry have voted to approve the deal.”

The rail strike can cost the US economy $1 billion in the first week 

According to Anderson Economic Group, a rail strike could cost the US economy $1 billion in its first week alone. Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House assured the media on Monday that the house will take up the legislation this week to avert a “possible rail strike”. Last week, AP reported that the biggest rail union rejected a deal on Monday joining three other unions that have failed to approve contracts about “demanding scheduled and the lack of paid sick time”. 

The strike has the potential to begin from 5th December if Congress didn’t act upon the legislation. Citing an estimation made by the White House, CNN reported that as many as 765,000 workers could temporarily be out of the world if the rail workers went on strike, which is a matter of worry for the Biden administration. According to CNN, as of now, more than 400 business groups had joined to plead the Congress to take quick action in this regard.