Posted on 08/04/2008 2:14:48 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON – A controversial one-year program allowing Mexican trucks to travel deep into the United States will be extended for two more years, federal officials announced Monday.
John H. Hill, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said the extension would allow for the collection of more data to determine whether Mexican trucks can operate safely in the United States.
Opponents quickly denounced the move, which some had been expecting despite their protests that the program poses a danger on U.S. highways.
Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, accused U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters of continuing to “flout the will” of Congress.
He said he would push for the passage of legislation to shut down the program when Congress returns in September. Last week, Oberstar's committee approved a bill to end the program on a unanimous bipartisan vote.
Hill said federal law allows a pilot program to last up to three years.
“We intend this extension to reassure trucking companies that they will have sufficient time to realize a return on their investment, and we anticipate additional participation with this extra time,” he said.
Although the program allows up to 100 carriers from each country to participate, only 26 Mexican carriers and 10 from the United States have joined the program, which was set to end next month.
Hill said there have been no accidents or safety incidents involving Mexican participants in the program.
Opponents, including the Teamsters Union, contend that Mexican drivers are not held to the same safety standards as U.S. drivers.
The Bush administration began the program last September as the first step in complying with a provision of the North American Free Trade Agreement that requires opening the border to long haul truck traffic.
Congress passed a law last year to end the program, but U.S. transportation officials interpreted it as only applying to future pilot programs.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2055385/posts
Yea, I thought they were gonna shut it down.
White House Vs. Congress
“Hill said there have been no accidents or safety incidents involving Mexican participants in the program.”
Whatever! Do they have a magic shield?
Isn’t the ‘mexican trucking’ program part of the treaty ratified during the Clinton Administration? and didn’t the Supreme Court uphold the treaty?
just asking....
load ‘em up .. move ‘em out.
In the cases in the past where the Supreme Court has been asked to rule on the constitutionality of NAFTA (with regard to State environmental regulations, and Fast-Track Authority, to name two occasions), it has found in favor of NAFTA.
The Chinese company Cosco (which owns the Port Of Los Angeles) has been building two huge ports in Mexico for last several years.
How long before we see Mr Xinh Hou Chu with a Mexican commercial driving license.
oops . . . the Fast Track case never made it out of the 11th Circuit (the Supreme Court declined to hear the case).
ping
Well, one of the more pertinent facts to come out of the high gasoline prices is the fact that Mexico subsidizes the price of fuel, it is half the cost of US fuel.
That creates a advantage for the Mexican Trucking companies.
Bush is still President, so his policy of whatever Mexico wants, Mexico gets is still in force.
Judge and Jury?
exactly! with huge inter-country road/rail system through Canada,USA and mexico to go with it.just more,,BS that gets crammed down our throats against the will of the people.
This is precisely why the Senate rejected this in 2007-insufficient data.
Uh-huh, just like the FDC said Mexico wasn't responsible for the salmonella outbreak.
Globalist bureaucrats protecting their jobs.
Actually the DOT looks the other way. The trucks are not even safe by any definition and there have been many accidents that are swept under the rug. The people can’t speak the language they can’t drive in bad weather and the trucks are a disgrace and if you or I tried to drive one through an inspection we would be taken out of service on the spot! I am driving over the road and I used to be a mechanic and yes we have a big problem in the works here.
The also don’t pay the same taxes up here that American trucks are required to pay. They put three wanna be drivers in a truck and they rotate to keep the truck moving at far less compensation than you or I would make, I asked a DOT official about the three drivers and was told that (off the record) it was not right but there were no provisions under the law to stop the practice as long as there was a bunk for sleeping. One major “US” company is at this time hiring dispatchers who speak Spanish for the above reason.
You don’t know how right you are. Two Mexican trucks were busted last winter in Colorado because they can’t drive in winter conditions and went off the road and they both were loaded with guess what “illegal aliens” oops.
You realize that you are posting to a slip-and-fall lawyer’s blog?
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