Pres. Biden adverts rail shutdown by signing legislation

(CNN) - President Joe Biden signed new legislation Friday forcing railroad workers into a labor agreement to avoid a possible strike.

A rail shutdown would likely have devastated the economy, disrupted commuter rail services, factory productions, and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work heading into the holiday season.

"Our nation's rail system is literally the backbone of our supply chain as you all well know. So much of what we rely on as delivered on our rail from clean water to food and gas," Biden explained.

On Capitol Hill, the House passed the rail agreement on Wednesday.

Then, the agreement reached the Senate on Thursday, but it wasn’t without complications.

Provision related to paid sick leave

There was also a push by progressives to add a provision related to paid sick leave, which the Senate failed to pass.

President Biden vowed to keep pushing for paid sick leave.

"Look, I know this bill doesn't have paid sick leave that these rail workers and frankly every worker in America deserves. But that fight isn't over. I didn't commit. We were going to stop just because we couldn't get in this bill that we were going to stop fighting for it."

Good news for U.S. economy

Meanwhile, some good news for the U.S. economy.

According to the labor department, 263,000 jobs were added in November.

In addition, the unemployment rate remained at 3.7%.