Teamsters Praise Dorgan for Mexican Truck Amendment

Hoffa Lauds Sending of Clear Message to Bush Administration

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa commended the Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday for approving an amendment to ban any and all programs to open the border to long-haul trucks from Mexico.

The amendment, sponsored by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND), removes the Bush administration's pretense that it can lawfully operate a pilot program to allow Mexican trucks to travel freely on U.S. highways. It passed by a vote of 20-9.

A federal law took effect on Dec. 26 that bans funding for the Bush administration's pilot program allowing dangerous Mexican trucks into the U.S. interior. In brazen defiance of that and other laws, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) claimed it didn't understand the intent of the law. FMCSA refused to shut down the pilot project that had begun shortly after Labor Day.

"This amendment makes it as clear as day that Congress wants the border closed to dangerous trucks," Hoffa said.

"The Bush administration apparently doesn't give a damn if Americans get killed on the highways," Hoffa said. "We're grateful that Sen. Dorgan and the members of the Appropriations Committee do give a damn."

"It's outrageous that this program has been allowed to continue despite the fact that it's endangering American lives," Hoffa said.

The Department of Transportation's inspector general reported earlier this year that FMCSA didn't know if it was inspecting all trucks from Mexico at the border.

FMCSA opened the border to a Mexican trucking company with a long history of hazardous safety violations, Trinity Industries de Mexico. Trinity's 16 trucks averaged 112 violations each -- according to FMCSA's own database -- in the year before it was admitted to the pilot program.

The amendment says none of the funds appropriated for the Transportation Department "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 Teamsters believe the pilot program creates a dangerous precedent on American highways because Mexican trucks and truck drivers are not held to the same safety standards as their U.S. counterparts.

The Teamsters and other safety advocates challenged the legality of the program in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. The judges have yet to release their decision.