After weeks of lying and attacks, MAGA refuses rail regulations to protect public safety

[CousinIT]

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/28/republicans-congress-rail-ohio-east-palsetine-00084878

GOP urges no ‘burdensome regulations’ on freight rail, after derailment

Republicans on Capitol Hill have spent two weeks torching the Biden administration for what they call a slow response to the Ohio rail disaster — but on Tuesday, some GOP lawmakers urged their colleagues not to rush out laws putting new strictures on freight rail.

That means Democrats may face trouble getting a divided Congress to adopt the rail safety proposals that Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg sent to Capitol Hill last week, including tougher braking requirements. And while a handful of Republican senators have expressed interest in bipartisan legislation on freight trains, others said they need more information first on what went wrong in East Palestine.

The latter include the chair of the House committee that oversees transportation, Rep. Sam Graves (R-Mo.) and the rail panel chair, Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas).

. . .

One of DOT’s requests for Congress is an increase in the maximum penalties to railroads for safety violations — an idea Nehls dismissed, instead praising the industry’s safety record.

[Baitball Blogger]

1. This is what you voted for, America. If you voted Republican.

Republican party has turned into the party of deregulation, and throwing the blame at Democrats when everything goes off the rails.

[CrispyQ]

2. "...Nehls dismissed, instead praising the industry's safety record."

And yet I've read of at least two derailments since OH. I've got to believe they happen more frequently than they are reported on. We all know our infrastructure is in need of updating & that corporations have pared down their workforces to bare minimum in lots of industries.

[gratuitous]

3. If the industry's safety record is so outstanding

Then they're probably doing everything the proposed new regulations would require, right? So any railroad with such a terrific safety record as Rep. Nehls claims shouldn't have any problem with the new regulations.

[CrispyQ]

5. You're thinking like someone with too much education.

Don't worry, republicans are working on that problem too!

[republianmushroom]

4. what the hell, they are republicans, don't expect them to change.