Posted on 07/26/2010 3:32:56 PM PDT by mdittmar
Sets deadline of October 1, 2010 for Administration to act
(Washington, D.C.) U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) included language in the Fiscal Year 2011 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill that calls on the Administration to put forward a plan that would end retaliatory tariffs on Washington state agricultural products by October 1, 2010. The bill passed the THUD subcommittee, which Murray chairs, as well as the full Appropriations committee, and will now head to the full Senate for consideration.
I am extremely frustrated that the Administration has not yet acted while farmers across my home state of Washington continue to suffer under Mexicos retaliatory tariffs, said Senator Patty Murray. I am urging both the Obama Administration and the Mexican government to solve this issue and allow Washington state farmers to compete on a level playing field. Since there has been inaction for too long, I included specific language in the transportation spending bill giving the Administration a clear deadline of October 1, 2010 to solve this problem.
(Excerpt) Read more at murray.senate.gov ...
http://www.ooida.com/OOIDA%20Foundation/Issues/mexican_trucks.html
Why is she blaming this on Obama? Isn’t Seattle one of the “sanctuary cities?” You can’t touch those truck drivers.
Boycott Washington State!!!
Patty Murray supports Illegal Aliens,and I get Truckers on the road as fast as I can,That's my job.
Well, I’m afraid we’ve reached an impasse: the NHTSA has claimed for years that the Mexican trucks involved in the pilot program have U.S.-approved insurance carriers, and your website claims that the liability standards are different (kinda’ funny, if you think about it).
I was speaking generally, thanks for posting the thread.
You have the photos: what was the name of the trucking company, what was its USDOT number, who was its insurance carrier, where and when did the accident happen, how did you get the photos, and why are you “irked” because people on the internet expect accurate information?
Don’t care about Union Drivers,or Independents,when you you back in,I do my job,I’ll get you back on the road.
http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/reports/rwservlet
Review Date: 03/04/2010
Type: Non-Ratable
Type Fatal Injury Tow Total
Crashes 32 447 981 1460
Inspection Type Vehicle Driver Hazmat
Inspections 22201 42565 772
Out of Service 3109 963 24
a good driver is a good driver and you are better than I, as there are some who back in that I would not give the time of day until they showed me the proper respect, including certain family members who are also in the business but who we will NEVER go into business with.
What makes you thing that opposing a cross-border trucking program for 100 trucks will keep the accident from happening?
Go the truck stop and watch ‘em pull in. American driver gets out, goes in to have coffee......Mexican driver gets out, grabs tool box and starts working on the damn thing.....
There are however, carriers operating beyond the commercial zone from Mexico that are 55% American owned many of which will be self-insured. (Swift, J.B. Hunt, Celadon are self-insured)
you're assuming that they even make it to the truck stop, it isn't just paper litter along the border highways & interstates. Especially between Nogales & Tucson.
http://www.swifttruckingjobs.com/about.php
from the OOIDA review:
I think we should ask if these Mexican carriers are actually Mexican domiciled and 100% Mexican owned carriers. If they are not; it is not a true representation of the Mexican carrier population. If any of the carriers are 51% or more American owned then they are not truly a Mexican carrier and an economic effect study needs to be done on how an American owned carrier would be given an undue economic advantage over other carriers; propagated and encouraged by the FMCSA.
Stifel Nickolaus just reviewed for their clients whether it is advisable to invest in Celadon, June 15, 2007, by noting: If the border were to open, Celadon could benefit to the tune of $8 million per year in cost savings if it were to run its 350 trucks in service across the border. The savings are related mostly to the lower rate per mile provided to Mexican drivers. Currently, drivers domiciled in the U.S. average $0.40 per mile in compensation while it is envisioned that Mexican drivers would earn only $0.22 per mile while operating in the U.S.
Has there been an economic impact study as must be done before there can be a regulation change? The Regulatory Flexibility Act requires an evaluation of the effects of an action on small entities and a determination that the action would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. (I dont think this is required for a pilot study but it should be considered)
FYI— In Mexico in order to cross the border a carrier must go through a broker. Unlike the U.S. brokers, the brokers in Mexico are legally responsible for the load, therefore, they often own the trucks that do the cross-border transportation or have a deal worked out with a Mexican motor carrier. This will greatly affect the economy of these business people and they are largely opposed to NAFTA. This will of course affect the owner-operators who cannot compete with the poorly paid Mexican drivers.
Another point is that if a foreign worker gets a work visa in the U.S. the person who hires the worker and sponsors them is required to pay the average wage for that position. Is this even considered, it certainly should be if the carrier in the study is U.S., owned even partially. In fact a quote of Celadons President on WISH TV Channel 8 in Indianapolis, The move could increase Celadon Truckings profits by as much as 80 cents a share within the next two years. This was of course in reference to opening the border not the pilot study but if Celadon, or Jaguar the Mexican counterpart of Celadon, is one of the 100 carriers then it shows who is behind it.
And again I remind you:
There are however, carriers operating beyond the commercial zone from Mexico that are 55% American owned many of which will be self-insured. (Swift, J.B. Hunt, Celadon are self-insured)
SWIFT stands to profit considerably from reopening this program due to the fact it can hire substandard Mexican based drivers at much lower cost than the more heavily regulated US CDL holding driver. It's all about the bottom line, to hell with safety standards. It's all about the political establishment in power & how full they can fill their political coffers by the deals they make and there's more political hay to be made from the Mexican trucking industry than the US agriculture industry so I see Murray's bill dieing a slow painful death.
And if you were truly concerned about unsafe trucks, you wouldn't divide them out according to nationality.
Finally, Murray caved because the Mexican retalitory tariffs came down hard on her State. They were designed to do so. Stop it with the bullcrap about some cross-border trucking/insurance company conspiracy.
Higher standards BUT our own? Where do you got off with that? When did I say anything of the sort? I merely stated that they should be REQUIRED to adhere to the SAME standards we are, standards they were NOT made to adhere to during the pilot period.
As far as the tariffs go, WA state is only 1 of many ag states that was affected so go cry yourself a river. If Murray was playing on the side of America, she would push for higher tariffs on ALL Mexican & South American products coming INTO the US through the southern border. Who's side is she on anyway? You play fire with fire, not with political correctness. A lot of what comes through the southern border is NOT from Mexico, it is from South America because shipping it through Mexico is cheaper for those countries than shipping it directly to our coastal ports. As far as I am concerned, the North American Free Trade Agreement helps every one BUT the US because of the blatant abuse by South American countries who utilize Mexico to keep from paying the rightful tariffs they should be paying.
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