Mar. 1, 2023: A bipartisan response to East Palestine
A bipartisan group of six senators today will introduce the Railway Safety Act of 2023, legislation aimed at preventing a repeat of the toxic firestorm in East Palestine, Ohio, that followed the Feb. 4 derailment of a chemical train.\nAccording to a summary we saw last night, the legislation would: 1) require rail carriers to give advance notice to state emergency response officials before running trains carrying hazardous materials; 2) mandate trains run with at least two-person crews; 3) require better monitoring of railcar wheel bearings \u2014 which overheated in the Ohio train accident, according to the NTSB, and likely caused the train to jump the tracks \u2014 and 4) increase penalties for wrongdoing in the industry. AP\u2019s Julie Carr Smyth with the scoop\nAnd as House Republicans ramp up their investigation into alleged politicization at the Justice Department, Attorney General Merrick Garland will use his opening statement at a congressional hearing today to defend the integrity of his workforce.\nSpeaking at the Senate Judiciary Committee, Garland will emphasize how DOJ officials have worked to combat violent crime and hate crimes, to assist Ukraine officials in defending democracy and to \u201cprotect reproductive freedom,\u201d according to an excerpt shared with Playbook.\nSubscribe to the POLITICO Playbook newsletter\nRaghu Manavalan is the host and senior editor of POLITICO's Playbook Daily Briefing.Jenny Ament is the executive producer of POLITICO Audio.