Posted on 09/11/2007 5:09:04 PM PDT by ruination
WASHINGTON - The Senate voted Tuesday to ban Mexican trucks from U.S. roadways, rekindling a more than decade-old trade dispute with Mexico.
By a 74-24 vote, the Senate approved a proposal by Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., prohibiting the Transportation Department from spending money on a North American Free Trade Agreement pilot program giving Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways.
The proposal is part of a $106 billion transportation and housing spending bill that the Senate hopes to vote on later this week. The House approved a similar provision to Dorgan's in July as part of its version of the transportation spending bill.
Supporters of Dorgan's amendment argued the trucks are not yet proven safe. Opponents said the U.S. is applying tougher standards to Mexican trucks than to Canadian trucks and failing to live up to its NAFTA obligations.
Until last week, Mexican trucks were restricted to driving within a commercial border zone that stretched about 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexican boundary, 75 miles in Arizona. One truck has traveled deep into the U.S. interior as part of the pilot program.
Blocking the trucks would help Democrats curry favor with organized labor, an important ally for the 2008 presidential elections.
"Why the urgency? Why not stand up for the (truck) standards that we've created and developed in this country?" Dorgan asked.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who drafted a Republican alternative to Dorgan's amendment, said the attempt to block the trucks appeared to be about limiting competition and may amount to discrimination against Mexico.
"I would never allow an unsafe truck on our highways, particularly Texas highways," he said.
Under NAFTA, Mexico can seek retaliation against the U.S. for failing to adhere to the treaty's requirements, including retaining tariffs on goods that the treaty eliminates, said Sidney Weintraub, a professor emeritus at the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs in Austin.
The trucking program allows up to 100 Mexican carriers to send their trucks on U.S. roadways for delivery and pickup of cargo. None can carry hazardous material or haul cargo between U.S. points.
So far, the Department of Transportation has granted a single Mexican carrier, Transportes Olympic, access to U.S. roads after a more than decade-long dispute over the NAFTA provision opening up the roadways.
One of the carrier's trucks crossed the border in Laredo, Texas last week and delivered its cargo in North Carolina on Monday and was expected to return to Mexico late this week after a stop in Decatur, Ala.
The transportation bill is S. 1789.
all the good FReepocRats are happy
The lesson free trade has taught us so far, is that there is no job that can be shipped offshore, that shouldn’t be. I just don’t buy into that, even if some think that makes me the biggest democrat on the planet.
I want my next door neighbor to have a job. I woulk like to think foreign nationals will have jobs, but my obligation is to my neighbor first. Sorry, that’s just my take on it.
I want me next door neighbors to have reasoned incomes that will afford them a resonably comfortable life and to support the national community financially.
If we buy into this plan to allow Mexicans to enter our nation, on day one it will displace truckers who used to pick up loads at the border and carry them cross county. Within days it will replace truckers who used to haul loads from the interior of our nation to the border. Within months Mexican truckers would have replaced just about every U.S. trucker in the nation.
I won’t be buying into this great plan.
Ignoring the threats to national security and highway safety for the moment, this isn’t what I want for either my fellow citizen or my nation.
So I went a step aside. You just seemed so “compassionate conservative let’s let everyone in, Americans think they are sooo superior”, I just couldn’t resist.
I know it’s a part of NAFTA, I know our Senators are finally seeing the light, that they are there to do what the people want and they voted against allowing the trucks in. That’s a great country!
I notice you didn’t answer the question. Where was it said as you stated that American’s are superior by birth?
Exactly how was the “sovergnty (sic) of the Country” in imminent peril?
The bill number appears to be wrong:
00333 11-Sep H.R. 3074 On the Motion to Table S.Amdt. 2811
Agreed to Motion to Table Coburn Amdt. No. 2811; To prohibit the use of funds made available under this Act for bicycle paths so that the funds can be used to improve bridge and road safety.
00332 11-Sep H.R. 3074 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 2842 Rejected Cornyn Amdt. No. 2842; To ensure that every motor carrier entering the United States through the cross-border motor carrier demonstration program is inspected and meets all applicable safety standards established for United States commercial motor vehicles.
00331 11-Sep H.R. 3074 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 2797 Agreed to Dorgan Amdt. No. 2797; To prohibit the establishment of a program that allows Mexican truck drivers to operate beyond the commercial zones near the Mexican border.
00330 11-Sep H.R. 3074 On the Motion to Table S.Amdt. 2810 Agreed to Motion to Table Coburn Amdt. No. 2810; To prohibit funds appropriated under title I from being used for earmarks until all structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges have been repaired, with limited exceptions.
00329 10-Sep H.R. 3074 On the Amendment S.Amdt. 2792 Agreed to Murray Amdt. No. 2792; To expand the extension of authority of the Secretary of Transportation and provide additional obligation authority for the highway bridge program.
I think the unions represent like 5 percent or less of all the truckers out there.
What exactly is the downside of not allowing a bunch of crappy worn-out mexican trucks with drivers we can't understand from driving here and causing accidents?
You and the other posters that somehow think this bill was a good idea and/or that free trade is some sort of horrible evil need to study basic economics before you make yourselves sound like fools.
It curries favor with Conservative, too.
When you directed this at the other poster, were you implying or suggesting this is a racial issue?
Lets say there are two drivers that drive trucks, you enter our country making 5 dollars per hour, and the American driver is making $24 per hour with benefits. How exactly is this type of competition good for the American driver?
We know the greedy out there like your low wage peasant salary with no benefits. But how does this help the American driver?
This is indeed good news. Now there’s much more work to do to stop this invasion and hopefully soon, we’ll have a President who gets it because the current one sure doesn't.
Smith and others may have refuted it in theory, but it seems like many nations today are still practicing it with great success even though they have signed many trade agreements to do away with it.
Paper for trade agreements is cheap. Currency for manipulation costs real money.
Sovereignty is not a partisan issue unless we are fighting a global socialist movement that wants to wipe out borders.....oh wait.
I realize the world is going global but I was under the impression that our Republican globalists respect sovereignty.
Certain Democrats are completely shaming the GOP on some issues, like this and Ramos and Compean.
Guess what the reaction to the corruption will be......more government.
How about an International Department of Transportation.(which would need to be funded somehow)
More invasive and time consuming searches of all trucks (U.S. and Mexican - we can't DISCRIMINATE)
Then also remember we will need lobbyists to "help" the elected officials decide which companies should be scrutinized more than others.
In the end we will get more government regulation of everything BUT criminals.
Big business loves Big Government and Big Government loves Big Business.
It's called comparative advantage. Basically no one person or nation can do everything more efficiently than another person or nation. Therefore by trading it allows one nation to do what it can do more efficiently while allowing the other nation to do what it does better. Of course, the American trucker may be worse off, that is unfortunate, but American society is made better off by the trade between nations. American workers can then focus on what it does more efficiently.
Yeah, the title I entered was just the article title alone. Some unknown admin added the commentary.
I try to comprehend protectionist motives. A raw “superior by birth” seems to motivate much protectionist sentiment.
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