House passes bill to avoid rail strike (NYSE:UNP)

The House passed legislation on Wednesday to avoid a strike that President Biden warned could wreak havoc on the economy.

The bill passed by a wide margin in the lower house with a 290 to 137 vote. The bill will now head to the senate. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer voiced optimism on the bill’s prospects on Tuesday, telling reporters that he and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell had come to a point of agreement on the importance of averting a strike.

Still, the imposition of an agreement has been met with some resistance from Senators on both the left and right sides of the aisle. For example, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders voiced his displeasure with the lack of guaranteed sick days for workers and excoriated railroad operators in a speech on the floor. Meanwhile, Marco Rubio tweeted his intention to vote against the bill.

“The railways & workers should go back & negotiate a deal that the workers,not just the union bosses,will accept,” Rubio tweeted on Tuesday. “But if Congress is forced to do it,I will not vote to impose a deal that doesn’t have the support of the rail workers.”

The Senate must pass the bill before December 9 if a strike is to be avoided.

Related Tickers: Canadian Pacific Railway (CP), Canadian National Railway (NYSE:CNI), CSX Corp. (NASDAQ:CSX), Union Pacific (NYSE:UNP), Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) (BRK.B), and Norfolk Southern (NYSE:NSC)

Read more on President Biden’s calls to avert the work stoppage