Chairman Cassidy, Sanders, Banks, Kaine Introduce Legislation to Strengthen Railroad Retirement Board, Deliver Benefits to Workers & Families

WASHINGTON - Today, U.S. Senators Bill Cassidy, M.D. (R-LA), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Ranking Member of the HELP Committee, Jim Banks (R-IN), Chairman of the HELP Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, and Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced legislation to strengthen the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), ensuring rail workers and families can access retirement and unemployment benefits in a timely manner. This comes after Cassidy led a HELP hearing examining the RRB.

"The RRB Trust Fund has delivered strong returns for railroad workers. But outdated infrastructure is preventing workers from getting the benefits they've earned in a timely manner," said Dr. Cassidy. "This legislation modernizes RRB, ensuring workers and their families can achieve a secure retirement."

"More than 20,000 Hoosiers rely on earned Railroad Retirement Board benefits. This bill allows the Railroad Retirement Board to use its own money to address the application backlog and modernize decades-old technology. America's railroad workers deserve nothing less than that," said Senator Banks.

"For generations, rail workers have helped keep our country and economy moving. We must ensure they receive the benefits they were promised," said Senator Kaine. "This bipartisan legislation would provide more resources for the Railroad Retirement Board, which administers benefits for rail workers and their families, to address the growing backlog of benefit claims and modernize outdated technology. Workers shouldn't have to wait more than a year to have their disability claims processed. I look forward to working with my colleagues to pass this bill."

In 2001, Congress created the National Railroad Retirement Investment Trust to invest on behalf of the RRB and its trust funds. Since then, the Trust's assets have continued to grow in surplus, making the railroad retirement system self-sustaining.

Despite large revenues from the Trust, the RRB currently faces a growing backlog of benefits claims due to understaffing and aging IT infrastructure. The RRB Stability Act unlocks the ability to access a limited portion of these surplus funds to modernize its infrastructure and clear the backlog, ensuring workers' benefits are not delayed.

The bill includes strong protections to ensure the RRB can unlock the funding necessary to provide timely benefits to railroad workers without undermining the solvency or sustainability of the system.

Click here for bill text and here for the one-pager.

The Railroad Retirement Board Stability Act is supported by the Association of American Railroads, the American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association, the AFL-CIO, the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, and the Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes.

"This commonsense legislation will help ensure the Railroad Retirement Board has the stable administrative resources necessary to address long-standing technology modernization needs and deliver the efficient, secure and reliable service that America's railroaders have earned and deserve," said Ian Jefferies, President and CEO, Association of American Railroads. "While the railroad retirement system is fully solvent and paid for by U.S. railroads and their employees, its governing board lacks the administrative funding and flexibility it needs to update its outdated technology and operating systems, improve efficiency, and operate effectively and securely today, exposing rail workers to slower customer service and delays on receiving the benefits they rightly deserve. We applaud Sens. Bill Cassidy and Bernie Sanders for their bipartisan leadership and steadfast commitment to America's railroaders and their families."

"As America's largest transportation labor federation, we strongly support the RRB Stability Act and thank Senators Cassidy and Sanders for introducing this commonsense legislation. This bill would provide RRB with consistent administrative funding and additional targeted funding to improve the quality of service and efficient delivery of benefits for rail workers, retirees, and their families. The Railroad Retirement Board is often the sole provider of hard-earned benefits to railroaders. Unfortunately, inadequate administrative funding has left the RRB with outdated technology, resulting in inefficient customer service for beneficiaries. It's up to Congress to allocate these administrative funds, which come entirely from the payroll taxes of rail workers and their employers," said Greg Regan, President, Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD).

"ASLRRA applauds the leadership of Senators Cassidy and Sanders in advancing this common sense RRB reform and modernization bill. This may not make national headlines, but it's good, smart, competent government. This will support a functional retirement program for hundreds of thousands of railroaders far into the future, without costing the American taxpayer a single penny," said Chuck Baker, President, American Short Line & Regional Railroad Association.

"The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) and the benefits that BLET and BMWED members receive from the RRB are vital to the day-to-day livelihoods of our members and their families. In February, Jeff Joines from the Teamsters Rail Conference highlighted for the Senate HELP Committee how outdated systems and reduced staffing have hindered the RRB's important work, leading to workers waiting over 440 days for an initial adjudication of applications for disability benefits when our members get injured on the job. We are grateful to Chairman Cassidy, Ranking Member Sanders, and the HELP Committee for following up on the hearing and introducing the Railroad Retirement Board Stability Act of 2026, which will give the RRB the long-term funding stability it needs and revolutionize the RRB's ability to effectively serve our members. We strongly endorse the legislation and urge Senators to support it," said Mark Wallace, President, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen and Teamsters Rail Conference.

"The funding for the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) that the Railroad Retirement Board Stability Act of 2026 provides would finally address long overdue and much needed fixes to problems that have irritated BMWED members and their dependents for well over a decade," said Tony D. Cardwell, President, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes. "For far too long, the RRB has faced budgetary constraints that have resulted in frustrating delays on disability claims and longer-than-needed wait times on calls and services. BMWED has led the way in advocating for a permanent fix. This funding would alleviate those problems by increasing RRB staff hiring and modernizing its I.T. services. It represents an overall funding fix that has been 14 years in the making. Our Brotherhood strongly supports the passage of this legislation and we thank Chairman Cassidy and Ranking Member Sanders for their leadership and support on this critical issue."

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