Republican lawmakers expressed frustration with the Biden administration Wednesday for turning to Congress to avoid a national railroad strike, with one calling it a "hostage situation."
"These unions put a gun to the head of the American people and say, 'This is what we want, and we're not going to play ball,' so the president's PEB, the Presidential Emergency Board, makes this recommendation, we go ahead and put legislation in place to support that, and at the 11th hour here we are,” said Arkansas Republican Rep. Rick Crawford on the House floor.
"What a colossal failure on the part of the president and on the part of the speaker," he continued, "that we have to be here at all wasting valuable time of this body that we could be doing so many more important things for our people in this country than having to deal with this hostage situation at a time when our economy cannot sustain it. A $2 billion a day hit that is about ready to hit us right in the face,” he added.
Texas GOP Rep. Troy Nehls made a similar argument on the floor.
"President Biden took two victory laps before this election," Nehls said. "One was an illegal bribe to college graduates that the courts struck down, and the second was this unsuccessful rail labor agreement, and they both failed. They were both lies to win an election.
