While Norfolk Southern's history of lobbying against safety rules has faced greaterand backlash in the wake of the toxic derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the company is hardly an industry outlier.
"The industry's hold of the Congress goes beyond Norfolk Southern and its efforts to water down legislation addressing systemic safety issues," the watchdog emphasized, noting that the industry's biggest lobbying"splurges" took place between 2008 and 2012, when"the industry lobbied an act aiming toThe bill, titled the Railroad Antitrust Enforcement Act of 2009, never received a vote in the House or the Senate.
"The BNSF Railway PAC gave $1.5 million, the Union Pacific Corp. PAC $1.8 million, and CSX Corp. PAC $913,000 [during the 2022 election]," the watchdog observed."These federal contributions have historically gone mostly to Republican candidates and groups, though the Norfolk Southern PAC contributed slightly more to Democrats in the last election cycle."of BNSF Railway PAC cash during the 2022 campaign were Rep. Kelly Armstrong and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries .