Mexico Trucker Online

WASHINGTON — Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., believes that a single stroke of the pen can end the Cross Border Demonstration Project and he’s hoping that President-elect Barack Obama or another high-ranking administration official will pull the plug shortly after Obama takes office Jan. 20.

“I have every expectation this illegal program like many other of the illegal activities of the Bush administration are going to come to a halt at 12:01 a.m. on Jan. 20 or soon thereafter,” DeFazio told The Trucker in an interview.

“They (the Department of Transportation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) are operating outside the law,” DeFazio said. “I think it would merely take an administrative action. I don’t think it would even have to rise to the level of the president. I think the secretary of transportation could terminate the program.”

What makes the situation even more interesting are three recorded votes by Secretary of Transportation designate Ray LaHood, whose term in the House of Representatives ends this week.

In May 2007, he voted yes to the Safe American Roads Act of 2007, a bill to approve a three-year DOT pilot program that would restrict opening the border to 100 carriers based in Mexico.

Earlier in the year, DOT had decided on a one-year demonstration program and the act was generally designed as a way to get DOT not to move too fast and allow all trucks to come into the U.S. after one year.

Later that year, with some Congressmen and the DOT seemingly at odds over the how the demonstration project was proceeding, LaHood voted with the majority in passing an amendment that forbade the DOT from “establishing” a cross border program. While in the Senate, Obama likewise voted in favor of the amendment that would be included in the spending bill that President Bush signed into law in December, 2007.

Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Pryor, D.-Ark., who has also been critical of the demonstration project, told The Trucker that while he suspected the new administration wasn’t committed to the pilot program, there are more pressing issues facing the new president

“I do think they’ll take a look at it, but my sense right now what President-elect Obama really needs to focus on is the U.S. economy,” Pryor said, “and I don’t know if his transportation department will prioritize this program or not. I actually think that one of the things we will see with President-elect Obama is he will be very focused on domestic issues and he will be looking at all sorts of things to help the U.S. economy and help us create jobs. Trade will certainly be part of that and the transportation part of the trade will be part of that as well. I don’t have a great sense of where the Obama administration ends up on this, but I do think we’ll have to continue discussing this with the Obama administration. From my standpoint, this has been a Bush initiative and my sense is the Obama people are not committed to this pilot program at all. It’s just something they’ll inherit and see if it’s worth continuing.”

The talk of ending the demonstration program doesn’t surprise John Hill, the administrator at the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), which oversees the program.

“These men are in leadership positions in their respective areas regarding trucking issues. I’m not surprised to hear this [discussion of ending the program], but I’m disappointed,” Hill said.

Both DeFazio and Pryor pointed to safety as key reasons for stopping the program, despite the fact that FMCSA recently issued a report showing there had been no accidents involving trucks participating in the program.

“Safety is a major concern,” DeFazio said. “They do not have [a] meaningful commercial driver’s registry in Mexico so we don’t really know who these people are or what their qualifications are or what their driving records are. They don’t have meaningful Hours of Service in Mexico. “Theoretically, those who cross the border from Mexico are complying with our Hours of Service, but we have problems in the U.S. with compliance, let alone people who have driven three days straight to get to the border from the southern Mexico. Then they get to the border and say ‘well, I just started my shift and I’m driving over the border. So you have some very significant safety issues regarding those trucks potentially.”

Hill is not worried about safety issues should the Mexican border eventually be opened.

“They can make claims and so forth that Mexican trucks are unsafe, but when it comes to the actual operation of the program and the way we set it up the way Congress told us to do it, I think that we’ve shown it can be done safely,” he said. “The requirements we have in place, with the exception of checking every truck every time which we did above and beyond the statutory requirements, apart from that, those other regulatory guidelines are still going to be in place. These trucks can’t get into the country unless we’ve gone down to their companies. Those things are still in the law and are going to have to be done.”
Hill said an open border with Mexico was important for the U.S. economy.

Mexican Trucks are a dead issue! It has been proven they are as safe as ours and can operatie safely in our environment. There are much more important things facing this country and trucks from Mexico ain’t one of them