| 来源类型 | Coalition Letters
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| 规范类型 | 其他
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| CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Congress on STB Revenue Adequacy Hearing |
| Marc Scribner
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| 发表日期 | 2019-12-05
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| 出版年 | 2019
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| 语种 | 英语
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| 摘要 | Dear Chairmen Fischer and Lipinski, Ranking Members Duckworth and Crawford, and Members of the Subcommittees,
We write to you today to emphasize the significance of the Surface Transportation Board’s (STB) forthcoming December 12 and 13, 2019, hearing on railroad revenue adequacy (Docket Nos. EP 722 and 761). Congress has made substantial efforts to reduce heavy-handed railroad regulation, including the expansion of strict rate regulation. The potential for the STB to use revenue adequacy as a means to institute price controls is deeply troubling.
Going forward, we recommend that Congress exercise close oversight of the STB and its remaining authorities. Partial freight rail deregulation by Congress has allowed this industry to become highly efficient in recent decades. As a result, America’s private freight railroads provide innumerable benefits to U.S. businesses and the economy.
Specifically, we would like to highlight several concerns with the STB’s approach to revenue adequacy raised by leading railroad regulation scholars, who authored the 2015 report Modernizing Freight Rail Regulation (TRB Special Report 318) for the National Research Council’s Transportation Research Board of the National Academies of Sciences. These experts’ concerns regarding possible changes to revenue adequacy determinations and the use of those determinations in administering railroad regulations were submitted to the STB on October 29, 2019, and include:
Arbitrary calculations:“The proposal would establish rate increase caps based on the relationship of a shipper’s rates to a benchmark calculated using costs derived from the inherently arbitrary Uniform Rail Costing System (URCS) and arbitrary allocations of profits that exceed the cost of capital.”
Divorced from economic reality:“We are deeply concerned that this approach creates a rate increase constraint that is divorced both from economic reality and from a well-articulated goal that the proposal is designed to achieve.”
Contrary to stated intent:“This proposal could move STB rate regulation in the direction of public utility regulation rather than the protection of captive shippers.”
Such an approach runs counter to Congress’s intent in partially deregulating the railroad industry and would threaten the future health of America’s railroads—which in turn would risk the massive gains to consumers from reforms enacted over the last four decades. We urge you to closely monitor the December 12 and 13 hearing and the two revenue adequacy proceedings at issue to ensure the United States will preserve these societal benefits far into the future.
Sincerely,Marc ScribnerSenior FellowCompetitive Enterprise InstitutePhil KerpenPresidentAmerican CommitmentSteve PociaskPresidentAmerican Consumer InstituteRoslyn LaytonVisiting ScholarAmerican Enterprise Institute*Grover NorquistPresidentAmericans for Tax ReformJon DeckerExecutive DirectorCommittee to Unleash ProsperityMatthew KandrachPresidentConsumer Action for a Strong EconomyJason PyeVice President of Legislative AffairsFreedomWorksMario H. LopezPresidentHispanic Leadership FundTom GiovanettiPresidentInstitute for Policy InnovationNick ZaiacResident Fellow, Transportation & InfrastructureR Street InstituteKaren KerriganPresident & CEOSmall Business & Entrepreneurship CouncilIan AdamsVice President of PolicyTechFreedom
*The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) does not take institutional positions on any issues. The views expressed are those of the scholars. |
| URL | https://cei.org/content/cei-leads-coalition-letter-congress-stb-revenue-adequacy-hearing
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| 来源智库 | Competitive Enterprise Institute (United States)
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| 资源类型 | 智库出版物
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| 条目标识符 | http://119.78.100.153/handle/2XGU8XDN/363896
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推荐引用方式
GB/T 7714 |
Marc Scribner. CEI Leads Coalition Letter to Congress on STB Revenue Adequacy Hearing. 2019.
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文件名：
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STBRevenue.pdf
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格式：
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Adobe PDF
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