Posted on 11/29/2001 1:01:43 PM PST by t-shirt
Thursday, 29 November, 2001, 15:36 GMT
Open US roads for Mexican trucks
The United States and Mexico have reached an agreement to reduce restrictions on Mexican trucks at border crossings, in line with a free trade agreement signed by the two countries and Canada.
The authorities in Mexico had threatened to close the northern border with the US if Washington continued to block access to Mexican trucks on safety grounds.
The US has now agreed to replace lengthy individual inspections with random checks on drivers and trucks, provided Mexico carries out regular checks within its borders.
The dispute started five months ago and escalated after the US Senate approved legislation which was said to be against the North American Free
Trade Agreement. Mexico said it should have the same access to US highways as Canada.
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Bush, Congress Reach Deal on Mexican Truck Access
November 28, 2001 9:50 pm EST
By John Crawley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Congress and the Bush administration reached a tentative deal late on Wednesday on tough safety criteria that Mexican long-haul truckers must meet to operate their rigs across the United States.
The deal ended months of wrangling between Capitol Hill and the White House over the issue, which held up final passage of a $60 billion transportation spending bill and drew a veto threat from President Bush.
The lawmakers who negotiated the compromise after different versions of the bill were passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate will put it into final form when they meet on Thursday.
The provisions allowing Mexican trucks full access to U.S. highways largely reflected stringent conditions approved by the Senate. The House voted for an outright ban on expanded access.
The White House had threatened to veto the sweeping appropriations bill, which funds major air, road and rail programs, if it contained either the Senate or House language on trucking.
It was unclear when the compromise measure would receive final congressional action, but House and Senate sources said voting in each house could come as early as Friday.
Mexican trucks are currently limited to a narrow commercial zone in U.S. border states, where they transfer their goods to American carriers.
Proponents of fully opening the border to Mexican trucks hoped to do so by January 2002, but Congress will leave the time frame open, giving the administration flexibility to carry out the safety mandates, a Senate aide said.
SAFETY CRITERIA
The compromise legislation would require:
-- Electronic verification of the license of every Mexican truck driver crossing the border with high-risk cargo and verification of at least half of all other Mexican truckers every time they cross.
-- Rigorous on-site inspection of Mexican trucking companies before their rigs are allowed full access to American highways and reinspection every 90 days.
-- Comprehensive safety examinations of the companies before they get conditional authority to operate in the United States. The checks will verify that each company has a drug and alcohol testing program, proof of insurance and operators with clean driving records.
-- A prohibition on operations in the United States until the Transportation Department's inspector general audits the U.S. government's ability to enforce the safety standards.
"I have said all along that we can ensure our safety and promote commerce at the same time," said the chief Senate negotiator, Washington state Democrat Patty Murray.
Murray teamed with Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama to write the standards that formed the foundation of the compromise bill.
The Bush administration was surprised this summer by Congress' strong feelings about Mexican trucks when it said that the measures passed by the House and Senate violated U.S. free trade obligations.
WHITE HOUSE SATISFIED<> The deal reached on Wednesday satisfied White House concerns, lawmakers and aides said. But a White House spokeswoman would not comment directly on the deal, nor would two senior Transportation Department officials.
"The president would like to sign legislation that accomplishes two goals," presidential spokeswoman Claire Buchan said. "It must ensure rigorous safety and inspection regimes for Mexican trucks operating in the United States, and it must live up to our obligations under the North American Free Trade Agreement."
NAFTA, which went into effect in 1994, gave U.S., Canadian and Mexican trucks free access throughout North America. But Mexico's authorization was blocked for years by the Clinton administration because of safety concerns and opposition from U.S. organized labor.
Rep. Harold Rogers, a Kentucky Republican and chairman of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee, called Wednesday's deal fair and said it was supported by the administration.
"We have reached a compromise that ensures safety on our roadways, allows our borders to be open without unreasonable delay, and that is consistent with our international agreements," Rogers said in a statement.
We cannot allow these trucks onto America or the terror will be unstoppable. Think of how many terrorists and illegals can sneak into the country this way.
**Note the Reuters stories speaks of checks of truck company facilities, etc, but those will be carried out by Mexico within it's border, as the BBC story makes clear.
Oh come on...
"The Horror ..."
Be one of the first to scream "RACIAL PROFILING" as US police departments quickly realize that Mexican trucks almost certainly are unsafe and probably carrying drugs, illegals, or both. Drug haulers can be confiscated. Unsafe trucks can be impounded until expensive repairs are made.
When will politicians realize that Mexicans are not folks that live over there, but, after Nigerians, the crookedest people on earth. Dishonesty and corrruption is in their blood. They should be called "Clintons" instead of Mexicans.
How many have entered through Canada?
Why are Canadians expempted from these "safety" regulations?
How do you think the people in the World Trade Center would have answered the following question?: Do you think that terrorist are going to fly huge jet airliners into both of the world trade center towers, causing these gigantic building to collapse killing thousands and thousands of people?
I think your response of, "Oh come on" may have been repeated by these now, very dead people.
How soon we all forget. Its amazing.
This really is a sham of a compromise. I like the fact that the driver's licenses and seemingly insurance will be checked. I am also glad the companies will be checked out. But anything sitting inside the trailer will be free to pass. Everything from illegals to nuclear weapons are thus fair game. Sorry, I don't buy this as a comprimise. It's a capitulation.
Once again the US Citizen is asked to bend over for any amount of surveylance, inspection, et al, but foreigners can pass hauling in the goods to destroy major cities with nothing more than a random 1 out of 100 check of the cargo.
Once again, our leadership has screwed us. I am tired of it. What moron would buy off on this?
"Once again the US Citizen is asked to bend over for any amount of surveillance, inspection, et al, but foreigners can pass hauling in the goods to destroy major cities with nothing more than a random 1 out of 100 check of the cargo. Once again, our leadership has screwed us. I am tired of it. What moron would buy off on this?"
No one knows the answer to that. As there may be hundreds or yes, even thousands of terrorist that could already be here, living, going about their business, waiting.
Would anyone really be surprised?
Give evidence, please, that Fox and the PAN at large are involved in drug trafficking. I'll wait.
....Mexican trucks almost certainly are unsafe....
You sound like a Teamsters' shill. Where's your evidence?
....and probably carrying drugs, illegals, or both.
Oh really? That's why the majority of Mexican vehicles enter the United States, huh? There's a great whopping ignorance of cross-border trade realities implicit in your statement.
When will politicians realize that Mexicans are not folks that live over there, but, after Nigerians, the crookedest people on earth. Dishonesty and corrruption is in their blood.
There's always someone willing to make a public fool of himself.
My father's family is ethnically Mexican, and they've given more than their share of blood and treasure in honorable defense of the United States. So stuff your dull-witted xenophobia and try citing some facts next time.
Please tell me where and when US citizens are subjected to more scrutiny than foreigners at border crossings. I'm curious.
No, it's not. It finally fulfills the letter of a treaty that our nation freely entered into over seven years ago. This isn't some random, unforeseen capitulation -- it's been a long time coming, and had we not been held hostage by a coalition of dishonorable Democrats, unions, and paleoconservatives, we'd have honorably fulfilled our obligation to do this long ago.
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