May 13, 2015

Today, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee held a hearing on the 35th anniversary of the Staggers Rail Act of 1980, which provided significant deregulation of the freight railroad industry and the first major changes in the federal rail regulatory scheme since the 1880s.

In light of that anniversary and hearing, this week’s ETW Document of the Week is a set of briefing papers given to President Carter in anticipation of his December 11, 1978 meeting with Transportation Secretary Brock Adams where the two would decide on a general strategy for pursuit of trucking and rail deregulation in the upcoming Congress. Included is a memo from Adams laying out the pros and cons of various approaches to both rail and trucking deregulation, and a suggestion by OMB (agreed to by Carter) that the Administration also pursue intercity bus deregulation at the same time.