Railroads Hiring Relatives of House Members and Staffers

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The Washington Post’s Elizabeth Williamson reports that Congress is still family business friendly, particularly on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Railroads, Pipelines, and Hazardous Materials:

Days after Jennifer Esposito became majority staff director of the House transportation panel’s subcommittee on railroads, her father, Sante Esposito, and brother Michael Esposito signed up as railway lobbyists. Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-Ill.) has just taken a seat on the subcommittee, and in the coming weeks, the railroad industry trade association said, his father and predecessor in Congress, William O. Lipinski (D-Ill.), will register as a railroad lobbyist, too.

The new lobbyists join Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), a former congressman and chairman of the transportation committee who lobbies for railroads and whose son, Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.), also has just joined the railroads subcommittee.

The hirings come as Congress considers revising railroad safety regulations.