Freight Rail Assistance and Investment to Launch Coronavirus-era Activity and Recovery Act

Commentary

A Nod to King Lear

FROM THE EDITOR, OCTOBER 2020 ISSUE: I am not a fan of William Shakespeare. Frankly, I find him difficult to read, though methinketh he doth said some pretty cool stuff: “This life, which had been the tomb of his virtue and of his honour, is but a walking shadow; a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more: It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Or, “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune. Omitted, all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows and in miseries. On such a full sea are we now afloat. And we must take the current when it serves, or lose our ventures.”

Freight RAILCAR Act Introduced

Six U.S. Representatives—three Democrats and three Republicans—have introduced bipartisan legislation enabling a tax credit for freight railcar owners purchasing new or refurbishing existing equipment that “will incentivize investment in safer, greener freight railcar manufacturing in the United States.” The legislation, H.R. 8082, is the “Freight Rail Assistance and Investment to Launch Coronavirus-era Activity and Recovery (RAILCAR) Act.”