Conferees agree to block cross-border program funding
Nov 10, 2007 Congressional, NAFTA
A House-Senate conference committee agreed Thursday night, Nov. 8, to a fiscal 2008 transportation spending bill that would block funding for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s program that allows long-haul trucking across the U.S.-Mexico border, wire services reported Nov. 9.
The full House and Senate still must approve the conference report, and President Bush must sign it. The President has indicated he will veto it.
In place since Sept. 6, the one-year program — called a demonstration by the Bush administration and a pilot program by its opponents, because pilot programs come with additional legal hurdles — allows a limited number of Mexican trucking companies to operate beyond the 25-mile commercial zone in the United States. Under a reciprocity agreement with Mexico, the program also allows a limited number of U.S. carriers to operate into Mexico. Critics argue that the program lacks enough safeguards to ensure that Mexican trucks meet the same safety standards as American trucks.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is confident that Congress will pass the transportation bill and shut down the program, Rod Nofziger, OOIDA’s director of government affairs, told Copley News Service. The Teamsters union likewise told Copley it was satisfied with the committee’s action. (We’re sure they are confident as much money as they have contributed to the PAC’s and individual legislators. And it appears those such as Dorken are staying bought.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters regrets the action but won’t give up on the program until a prohibition becomes law, a spokesman said. “It is a sad day for our country whenever fear and protectionism take precedence over safety and opportunity,” DOT spokesman Brian Turmail told Mexico Trucker. “That being said, the secretary will continue to work with the Congress to ensure the members are aware of the many aggressive safety measures that are in place for this program and that they understand how much it will benefit U.S. truck drivers and U.S. consumers.”
“Until the law changes, we will continue to follow the law of the land and ensure the highest levels of safety with this program,” Turmail said. “In addition, the secretary continues to remain optimistic about this program because ultimately we have the facts on our side. And, of course, she finds it difficult to accept that Congress would simply walk away from the $500 million it has invested in new state-of-the-art inspection facilities and new federal inspectors for this program since 1994.” (That’s right kiddies! all those new weigh and inspection facilities and personnel to man them, all gone Bye bye!)
The Bush administration still has one more potential trick up its sleeve: a veto threat. Within the next day or so, the White House Office of Management and Budget could issue a statement of administration policy on the transportation funding bill. That letter to Congress likely will signal whether the Bush administration supports the Mexican truck program enough to threaten a veto of the entire funding bill. But even if President Bush vetoed the bill, the initial overwhelming votes in the House and Senate on the Mexican truck ban would be sufficient to override a veto. (You go George! Show em you got some huevos boy!)
Meanwhile, DOT and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration continue to pursue the program. FMCSA provided more information Nov. 5 on its decision to require the installation of satellite tracking technology on participating trucks. The decision was made after members of Congress expressed a desire to know whether participants are complying with federal safety and trade laws, said the FMCSA, which first announced its plans to monitor participants in late September.
FMCSA would use Qualcomm’s technology to track trucks by vehicle number and company only; no driver information would be collected. The agency initially would spend about $367,000 to outfit all trucks from the United States and Mexico that take part in the program, and use the information gathered from the equipment to ensure trucks comply with hours-of-service laws and rules that govern the trips into and out of the country, said John Hill, FMCSA administrator.
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Tags: Congress, FMCSA, Transportation bill
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