Thread: Congress cuts funding for Mexican trucks

Congress cuts funding for Mexican trucks
But opponents believe Bush will find other ways to keep program rolling

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Posted: December 22, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern


By Michael Howe
© 2007 WorldNetDaily.com


Congress has passed a bill that cuts funding for the controversial Mexican truck program, but lawmakers expect the Bush administration to keep the foreign vehicles rolling on American roads amid safety and security concerns.
Joe Kasper, spokesman for Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., told WND that "without federal funding, it will be difficult to continue the program. However, we must expect that the administration will continue looking for ways to do so."

The newly passed 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act prohibits the Department of Transportation from using the funds in it "to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the international border between the United States and Mexico."

"In a Democratic-sponsored spending bill filled with rewards for special interests, this is actually one of the few beneficial provisions included in the bill," Kasper said.

He points out Bush is expected to sign the bill.

"Congressman Hunter introduced the first bill in Congress to stop the program from moving forward and never relented in his effort to ensure the safety of our roadways and that American security would not be threatened by an inundation of foreign motor carriers," Kasper said.

Ten Mexican carriers, with another 37 awaiting final approval, are now operating under the program. Four American carrier are allowed to drive on Mexican roads.

Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the American Trucking Association said Congress "has clearly expressed its will on the issue, and we are waiting to see what the Department of Transportation's next step will be."

"There are four U.S. trucking companies with 41 trucks in the cross-border program. If the demonstration program ends, there will be no U.S. trucks crossing the border," Boyce explained.

Congress has expressed its will before, however, and the program has continued.

Kasper said Hunter, a presidential candidate, "intends to work against any effort by the administration, just as he did over the last year, to ensure the brakes are put on this program once and for all."

The American Trucking Association hopes the Mexican project will be successful.

"We have generally supported NAFTA and the cross-border trucking program as an improvement in cross-border efficiency," said Boyce.

"We had expected that the demonstration program would prove whether the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration can regulate and ensure the safety of Mexican trucks and drivers traveling in the United States," he said.

Opposition to the program comes not only from the U.S. Congress but from the other side of the border as well. The Mexican National Truck Drivers Federation plans to block the border between Mexico and the U.S. in January if the program doesn't come to an end, according to the Mexican newspaper El Financiero.

"It is irresponsible of the Mexican government, of (President) Felipe Calderon, to allow the interests of a powerful 2 percent of people in the Mexican economy to hand Mexican trucking over to the Americans," Elias Dip Rame, president of the Mexican National Truck Drivers Federation, told the paper.

If American trucks are able to continue operating in Mexico, the ATA expects them to be protected.

"In any situation, we expect Mexico's authorities to protect U.S. drivers and vehicles lawfully in that country," Boyce said.

Melissa Delaney, spokeswoman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, was contacted by phone and e-mail but declined comment.

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=59340

"Congressman Hunter introduced the first bill in Congress to stop the program from moving forward and never relented in his effort to ensure the safety of our roadways and that American security would not be threatened by an inundation of foreign motor carriers," Kasper said.

Duncan Hunter strikes again!

Congress has passed a bill that cuts funding for the controversial Mexican truck program

I don't understand the funding provisions--funding what--border inspections, paying the Mexicans for driving in America, building Mexican roads, etc?


The Mexicans would misuse the program and smuggle drugs, people and who knows what else into the US.

What American trucker would be safe driving in the interior of Mexico?

"First of all, the so-called War on Terror isn’t a war on terror at all, it’s a war on the Constitution and Bill of Rights; a war on the rights of the American people." ~Lynn Stuter, researcher, analyst

It's time for this crap to End...

NO PRESIDENT HAS DONE AS MUCH DAMAGE TO THE UNITED STATES AS THIS FREAK WE HAVE IN OFFICE ... NONE

We all agree this needs to end, but how do "We The People" make it end?
How do we know that whoever takes Bush's place, isn't going to follow his footsteps or worse?

Why is congress funding Mexican trucks coming into America? Why can't Mexico provide for their own trucks? Why is it that the U.S. is picking up the tab for this bullcrap any way? These trucks shouldn't be coming over here in the first place. Just another example of just how stupid some American citizens are when it comes to them thinking that Bush is keeping the country safe. Bush could care less about the safety of this country or its citizens. If that were the case the border would not be wide open and trucks from Mexico would not be rolling across the border from the Mexican side bringing in drugs and more illegals from that country. His war on terror is a farce plain and simple!