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Meeting for the first time with congressional leaders since the midterm elections, President Joe Biden urged lawmakers to intervene in a labor dispute between unions and operators of the nation’s freight railroads and complete other items on a hefty to-do list before leaving town for the holidays.
„There’s a lot to do, including resolving the train strike,“ Biden said in brief remarks before the news media was ushered out. „It’s not an easy call, but I think we have to do it. The economy’s at risk.“
Biden wants lawmakers to adopt before a Dec. 9 strike deadline an agreement brokered by the White House in September between labor union leaders and rail operators. Four of the 12 rail unions have voted to reject the five-year agreement, leaving Congress as the last option to avert a system shutdown.
„We’re working on it,“ Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said after the meeting, when asked whether there’s sufficient support to pass the legislation.
Lawmakers also face a Dec. 16 deadline to agree on a 2023 budget before the expiration of a temporary funding measure that would lead to a partial government shutdown.
Biden has asked Congress to include in the funding package more than $37 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine and $9.
