Cross-border truck project stays

Mexican trucks may continue to operate widely in the U.S., under President Bush's interpretation of a new transportation spending law.

The Bush administration contends the law allows as many as 100 companies to go beyond a 25-mile zone inside the U.S. border, in a test program opposed by Congress and organized labor.

"The current cross-border trucking demonstration project, established in September, will continue to operate," the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a statement Wednesday.

Under the funding law, the U.S. "will not establish any new demonstration programs with Mexico," the agency said.

Labor unions, including the Teamsters, and some in Congress have been fighting efforts to open U.S. highways to Mexican trucks since the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, citing potential job losses and safety hazards.

The Bush plan to continue the program is "directly in violation with the new law," said Bret Caldwell, a Teamsters spokesman in Washington. The law bans funding for the program and "for them to suggest otherwise is really spitting in the face of Congress," he said.

The law, signed by Bush on Wednesday, says none of the funds it allots may be used "to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program." The Bush administration contends that doesn't apply to its program.