{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://sylviagarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-sylvia-garcia-calls-for-thorough-review-of-proposed-union-pacific-norfolk-southern-merger", "Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia\u00a0Calls for Thorough Review of Proposed Union Pacific-Norfolk Southern Merger", "2025-12-19", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "House", "TX", "Sylvia R. Garcia", "G000587", "sylviagarcia.house.gov", "sylviagarcia", "https://sylviagarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases", "scraper", "HOUSTON, T.X. \u2013 Today, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (D-TX-29) sent a letter to the Surface Transportation Board (STB) raising concerns about the proposed merger between Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern, urging the Board to conduct a robust, transparent review focused on community impacts, safety, and competition.\n\nIn the letter, Garcia specifically calls on the STB to thoroughly evaluate how the merger could affect blocked rail crossings, neighborhood safety, traffic disruptions, consumer and passenger rail service, and costs driven by reduced competition, particularly in Harris County and Houston\u2019s East End, one of the busiest rail corridors in the country.\n\n\u201cRailroads are important to our economy, but families should not pay the price,\u201d said Congresswoman Garcia. \u201cThe Surface Transportation Board must make sure this merger does not make blocked crossings worse, reduce safety, or raise costs because of less competition. My constituents deserve a process that is open, careful, and focused on the public interest.\u201d\n\nGarcia represents Texas\u2019s 29th Congressional District, where freight rail is central to the local economy but already creates daily disruptions for residents living near rail lines. Federal data compiled by the Federal Railroad Administration shows TX-29 has the highest number of reported blocked railroad crossings in the nation.", 1, "2026-05-23T06:08:46Z", "2026-05-23T06:10:20Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://sylviagarcia.house.gov/media/press-releases/congresswoman-sylvia-garcia-calls-for-thorough-review-of-proposed-union-pacific-norfolk-southern-merger"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.361361937597394, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}