LaHood won't challenge Congressional efforts to end Mexico truck project
STOP THE TRUCKS: Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood and the Obama adminstration are willing to let Congress stop the controversial Cross Border Demonstration Project. (Associated Press photo)
By LYNDON FINNEY
The Trucker Staff
2/27/2009
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Transportation will make no attempt to stop Sen. Byron Dorgan's effort to kill the Cross Border Demonstration Project, The Trucker learned Friday afternoon.
Earlier this week, Dorgan, a Democrat from North Dakota, included language in the Fiscal Year 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill that the senator said would finally bring to an end “the Mexican long-haul trucking program in the U.S. started by the Bush Administration.”
The bill, not to be confused with the stimulus package, allocates federal funds for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Sources have told The Trucker that LaHood has indicated he will not stand in the way of Dorgan's efforts.
Asked whether LaHood was in favor of letting the project die, a DOT spokesman declined comment.
Later Friday, The Trucker learned that while LaHood might not challenge Dorgan's effort, the White House was considering whether to issue a Statement of Administrative Policy asking Congress to take a second look at Dorgan's proposal because of the ramifications ending the program might have to the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The language Dorgan wrote into the bill says that “None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available under this Act may be used, directly or indirectly, to establish, implement, continue, promote, or in any way permit a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexican-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the international border between the United States and Mexico, including continuing, in whole or in part, any such program that was initiated prior to the date of the enactment of this Act.”
The House on Wednesday approved the appropriations bill with the language included.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill next week.
During the confirmation hearing for Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood Jan. 21, Dorgan, a long-time, outspoken opponent of the demonstration project, said he would expect the DOT to halt the project within two months.
Dorgan spent virtually all of his allotted time during the confirmation hearing talking about the pilot project.
Calling the previous DOT administration “arrogant,” Dorgan told LaHood that Congress had made it clear it wanted the project stopped, but noted how the DOT under former Secretary Mary E. Peters had ignored Congress’s directive, adding that LaHood himself had expressed opposition to the project when LaHood served in the House as an Illinois representative.
Dorgan was referring to legislation passed in December 2007 that cut off funding to implement the program.
But a Transportation Department lawyer found a loophole that has allowed the program, established in September 2007, to continue.
Then last July, the Senate Appropriations Committee voted 20-9 to block the program, which opponents say erodes highway safety and threatens U.S. jobs.
The language, however, was attached to a transportation spending bill that was not enacted before President Bush left office.
Dorgan said the language he included in this year’s appropriations bill “is clear, strong, and leaves absolutely no wiggle room, and I’m glad this Mexican trucking program will soon come to an end.”
His statement was very similar to a statement he issued last July when he said “The Department of Transportation already has defied the intent of Congress once, and they are not going to get away with it again. With this amendment, this program will finally come to an end.”
Opponents of an open border between the U.S. and Mexico have been fighting the measure since it was first proposed in the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, saying the program will erode highway safety and eliminate U.S. jobs. And they say that there are insufficient safeguards to make sure Mexican trucks are as safe as U.S. carriers.
DOT officials have disagreed.
“USDOT has adhered to the law and all requirements established by Congress for implementing our obligations under NAFTA,” the Transportation Department said in statement last year. “Safety continues to be our paramount focus as the demonstration project goes forward operating safely under current law.”
Supporters of the plan say letting more Mexican trucks onto U.S. highways ultimately will save American consumers hundreds of millions of dollars. They say U.S. trucking companies will benefit since reciprocal changes in Mexico’s rules permit U.S. trucks new access to that country.
The Cross Border Demonstration Project was originally scheduled to run for one year. The DOT later extended the project an additional two years.
How the elimination of the project will impact the North American Free Trade Agreement is uncertain. Officials at the Commerce Department, which oversees NAFTA, declined comment.
Lyndon Finney of The Trucker staff can be reached to comment on this article at editor@thetrucker.com.