Posted on 09/07/2007 2:56:27 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
WASHINGTON — The Bush administration's late-night decision allowing Mexican trucks to ply U.S. roads triggered angry criticism Friday from opponents of the trucking program.
John Hill, head of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, gave the go-ahead for the trucks late Thursday night, allowing Transportes Olympic of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, to drive its trucks beyond the roughly 25-mile limit from the border where they have been confined.
In return, Mexico granted permission to Stagecoach Cartage in El Paso to operate in Mexico.
Neither company had crossed the border yet, and Hill said the trucks might begin crossing this weekend.
The announcement was made in a news release and conference call with reporters around 9 p.m. EDT Thursday. The announcement had been expected earlier in the week.
"It was done in the dark of the night with very little notice," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who sponsored legislation for the pilot program under certain safety criteria.
The pilot program is restricted to 100 Mexican carriers who are allowed to cross a total 1,000 vehicles.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said he would offer an amendment similar to Fazio's when the Senate takes up the transportation spending bill, probably next week.
"I think they are exhibiting an arrogance that is pretty unbelievable," Dorgan said of the administration. "They've given short shrift to all objections, rushing to allow Mexican long haul trucks into this country."
But Hill said the program should be given a chance to run because every Mexican truck has to meet the same standard as U.S. trucks.
"Every time we get close to fulfilling requirements for what Congress told us to do originally with implementation of NAFTA, there seems to be additional requirements put on to this program," he said.
Before the announcement could be made, the transportation department inspector general and the transportation secretary had to make reports to Congress on safety and other requirements.
The inspector general's report was issued about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
"The DOT waited less than an hour to implement their plan," Dorgan said.
"The inspector general is the one who controls this event. He chose to release his report at 7:30 p.m. After he releaed his, then we released ours. We did it as expeditiously and responsibly as we could," Hill said.
The 1993 North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, promised access to all U.S. highways by 2000 to Mexican and Canadian truckers.
Canadian trucking companies already have full access to U.S. roads, but Mexican trucks can travel only about 25 miles inside the country, or 75 miles in Arizona.
Lawsuits and opposition by labor and safety groups have stalled the opening of roads to Mexican trucks.
The inspector general's report to Congres said the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Association had made progress in addressing Congress' requirements.
But it also said the administration had no coordinated plans for checking trucks and drivers participating in the test program, and that the motor carrier safety group needed to do more to help enforce the English requirements for drivers.
Five states told the inspector general's office they were not ready to enforce the safety rules for the trucks during the pilot project. Twenty-six states raised one or more concerns.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration made some adjustments in response to the report.
Fazio said he still worries that Mexico does not have a certified drug testing facility or limits on driving times.
The Teamsters sued to stop the pilot program. The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association asked the U.S. appeals court in Washington Friday to suspend the program pending a review of it by the court.
Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the American Trucking Association, said the group has grave concerns of how the pilot project would be carried out and whether it would be safe, even though they supported NAFTA.
Ahh, the country club set. I should’ve known, but I wasn’t paying attention at the time. Thanks for the info.
We might as well send Congress home. Bush and his bureaucrat minions are running the show, and all congress can do is wring their hands.
“Daddy Bush and his Mexican and Canadian counterparts started this mess, “encouraged” by the then-Mexican president. Daddy had his vision of the New World Order, and we all know how that is turning out for American citizens/taxpayers. His puppet son is pushing it to the limits.”
Bingo!!
Unfortunately it won’t hurt Hitlary or the Dims a bit .
That fool Hoffa is solely blaming the Republicans for this while conveniently disregarding the fact that we have a Dim controlled congress.
His solution : Elect a Dim president to accompany the Dim congress .
There are probably more Republicans against these Mexican trucks than there are Dims .
The unions will never learn ....
ARROGANCE.
The very word needed to describe this abrogation of government duty.
It's coming folks. This is a governmet that is out of control. And what will be the battle cry of this war?
What president started the ball rolling?
“Congress upset at late-night decision on Mexican trucks”
Democrats VALUE DIVERSITY!!!!
Well, unless it impacts some of their constituents!
And I might add that I would say these protesting Democrats are actually
doing their job, representing the interests of some of their electorate.
For once they didn’t bend over and tell Mexico and all the illegals
to just “do whatever you want”.
17 Year ago we agreed to let Mexico send trucks here and today we are letting them send a limited number into the US, yet this article makes it sound like it was hatched last night.
17 s/b 14.
There is a certain irony here. Late night sneak throughs are a beloved tactic of the congressional critters. I’d think it was funny if it wasn’t screwing the heck out of us American citizens.
This is what we get with 20 years of nothing in the White House.
I thought Clinton was the first to implement some of the provisions of NAFTA. I’m gonna go check it out.
“The agreement was pursued by the conservative governments in the US and Canada. In Canada, the Government was led by Brian Mulroney of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. The Canadian government worked aggressively with Republican President George H. W. Bush to create and sign the agreement. There was considerable opposition on both sides of the border, and the Clinton administration made passage of the agreement its major legislative initiative in 1993. After intense political debate and the negotiation of several side agreements, the House passed NAFTA by 234-200 (132 Republicans and 102 Democrats voting in favor) and the Senate passed it by 61-38.”
Interesting how all this is going down the weekend after Labor Day, concurrent with OBL threats and reports of cruise missiles having been mishandled unaccountably.
I meant nafta as a whole..
We get the intrusive regulations, and they (Mexico) get the access to our interstates.
I don’t remember ever voting on this business.
These whores in D.C. have turned the concept of a “Republic” completely upside down with their incessant BS!
I am out if the transportation business for years now, but I still have some idea about how things work.
I’m confident that most Americans have little clue as to just how many hoops truckers have to go through on a regular basis even in the individual states in order to make a decent living in this country.
Fine, here is a clue for the rest of you.
You can get an International Drivers License too.
With such a credential you can laugh in the face of your Local City/Town Governing agencies when they put a hold on your Drivers license renewals because of non payment of excise taxes on vehicles, or for unpaid traffic violations.
There are many ways to beat these whores, if you are determined.
Thank you, Bill Clinton. A gift that doesn't seem to stop giving.
/sarc
HW Bush started the proposed agreements that led to the legislation and Clinton ran it through Congress.
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