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Hearings
in the U.S. House and Senate, featuring testimony from Advocates
and Public Citizen, identified serious safety problems with
the program. On May 24, Congress approved provisions in a supplemental
Iraq War funding bill to ensure that any pilot program to allow
Mexico-domiciled trucks full access to the nation’s highways
would not circumvent safety standards or congressional oversight.
The provisions ordered the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
(FMCSA), which is responsible for implementing the administration’s
cross-border pilot program, to obey a number of requirements
that the agency is still ignoring.
These provisions,
signed into law by the president, require: the U.S. Department
of Transportation (DOT) to follow all applicable rules and regulations
concerning the formulation of pilot programs and crossborder
trucking; Mexico-based trucking companies and trucks to comply
with all applicable U.S. laws; and the administration to ensure
that the operation of these trucks within the United States
would not have a negative
impact on safety.
The groups
accused the administration of brazenly pressing forward without
meeting many of the safety provisions directed by Congress.
Less than three weeks after the legislation was signed into
law, FMCSA published a notice in the Federal Register on June
8 that in effect declared that the agency had met all of the
congressionally mandated safety requirements to open the southern
border.
The report
released in June 2007, however, identified every provision of
law that FMCSA has failed to comply with, including: failure
to provide sufficient opportunity for public notice and comments;
failure to provide the
public with information about the pilot project; failure to
comply with the requirements of §350 of the FY2002 DOT
Appropriations Act on the safety of cross-border trucking; failure
to comply with requirements of the pilot program law to test
innovative approaches and alternative regulations under 49 USC
§31315(c); failure of FMCSA to keep its promise to check
every truck every time for compliance; and failure to establish
criteria that
are subject to monitoring during the pilot program.
(UPDATE)
Last night, September 11, the United States Senate adopted by
a wide, strong and bipartisan vote of 75 yeas to 23 nays an
important amendment to the FY2008 U.S. Department of Transportation
(DOT) spending bill (H.R. 3074) that prohibits the use of any
funds to carry out the cross-border Mexican-domiciled truck
pilot program. The amendment was sponsored by Senator Byron
Dorgan (D-ND) and Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA). Identical language,
with bi-partisan support, was included in the House version
of the DOT funding bill in July. Now the bill goes to conference
to reconcile other differences in the House and Senate bills.
The Administration strongly opposes the amendment and will work
to strip it from the final conference bill.
A weak amendment
offered by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) to counter the Dorgan/Specter
amendment was defeated by 69 nays to 29 yeas.
Senate
Appropriations Amendment Fact Sheet - September 7, 2007
Oppose
the Cornyn Amendment to H.R. 3074
Mexican
Border and DOT Pilot Program Chronology
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