August 10, 2022
A key pillar of the deceptively named “Inflation Reduction Act” is furthering the climate agenda of the Democratic majority. Leaders in both chambers and the White House say that the bill, to be passed via reconciliation, is urgently needed to reduce carbon emissions in the industrialized economy.
Ironically, and in keeping with recent precedent, leaders are at the same time pursuing separate policies that run directly counter to these stated goals.
Specifically, members of the House Transportation & Infrastructure committee just released a separate bill that would re-regulate the private freight rail sector, currently the most green-friendly way to move goods. In making rail less competitive through a grab bag of measures pushed primarily by organized labor, lawmakers threaten to push freight to highways and in turn increase the very emissions they say must be reduced.
Unsurprisingly, they are doing this all under a broad rubric of “fixing” the supply chain and inflation – singling out rail in the process. Yet as economic expert Steve Forbes recently wrote, such blame is misplaced. Railroads certainly have their challenges, but they are hardly alone. “It’s true [policymakers have] cycled through a host of scapegoats when it comes to the extraordinary rise in inflation,” says Forbes. “But the ongoing fixation on railroads by other parties as well displays an astonishing lack of perspective and understanding of the real world.”
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