House lawmakers vote to end access for Mexican trucks

The 395-18 House vote was well above the two-thirds needed to override a presidential veto. The bill would end the authority of the administration to go forward with the Mexico cross-border program without congressional approval.

By JIM ABRAMS
The Associated Press

9/10/2008

WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives ignored a White House veto threat Tuesday and voted to end a pilot program that gives Mexican trucks access to U.S. highways.

The Bush administration stressed that the United States is obligated, under the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, to open American roads to Mexican truckers, and terminating the year-old demonstration project would have repercussions for American trucks allowed into Mexico. Passage of the House bill, it said, “would pose significant and immediate risks to U.S. interests.”

The pilot project, which gives up to 500 trucks from 100 Mexican companies access to U.S. roads, is opposed by trucking, consumer and environmental groups who say it would eliminate American jobs, and Mexican trucks are subject to less-stringent safety regulations than those in the United States. They say Mexico lacks adequate drug testing and hours-of-service standards, and the program could contribute to smuggling or insurance fraud.

“I’m outraged that the Bush administration for political purposes would jeopardize the safety of the traveling public in the United States,” said Democratic Rep. Peter DeFazio, chairman of the House Transportation subcommittee on highways.

The 395-18 House vote was well above the two-thirds needed to override a presidential veto. The bill would end the authority of the administration to go forward with the program without congressional approval. The Senate Appropriations Committee has attached similar language to a transportation spending bill, although that bill is unlikely to be enacted before President George W. Bush leaves office in January.

Congress passed legislation in December to ban payments to “establish” a program to allow U.S.-certified Mexican trucks to carry loads across the border, but the Transportation Department said that bill did not apply to a program that had already started. Several groups, including the Teamsters, a huge truckers union, the environmental activist Sierra Club and Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, have gone to federal court to challenge that interpretation.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, on the other hand, sent House members a letter urging opposition to the bill, saying the cross-border program “is a long overdue step toward reducing congestion and air pollution at the U.S.-Mexico border while promoting growth and jobs.”

The administration said last month it intended to continue the pilot program for two more years.

“The world is watching how we choose to honor our international commitments,“ FMCSA Administrator John Hill said in a statement. “At a time of surging exports and growing demand by U.S. truck drivers for new opportunities, it is simply irresponsible for Congress to deny American drivers the opportunity to compete in Mexico and American shippers a more efficient and timely way of getting their goods south.”