“This program needs to be stopped now, not continued!”
Congressman Walter B. Jones (R-NC) expressed strong opposition to an announcement today by the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) that its “Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project” will be extended for two years. The program, which began as a year-long pilot program in September 2007 and was set to expire September 6th, allows thousands of Mexican commercial trucks to have unlimited access to U.S. highways more than 25 miles across the border. Congress tried to halt the program by denying it funding in the Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Appropriations Act, passed on December 26, 2007. However, today’s announcement signals that the Department of Transportation still intends to move forward with the program, using the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) as justification.
“Given America’s concerns with the entry of illegal drugs, terrorists and illegal immigrants across our weakly defended borders, it is incomprehensible that Mexican trucks would continue to be allowed unfettered access to our country,” Congressman Jones said. “For the sake of our national and economic security and for the safety of our citizens, this programs needs to be stopped now, not continued! That’s why I strongly support H.R. 6630 – a bill the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee passed late last month, and is expected to be on the floor in September – which would end this debacle once and for all.”
Congressman Jones first voiced his opposition to the “Cross-Border Trucking Demonstration Project” when the DOT announced details of the program in February 2007. Jones is an original cosponsor of H. Con. Res. 146, a resolution expressing the sense of Congress that the Secretary of Transportation may not grant authority to Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones of the United States-Mexico border. He is also an original cosponsor of H.R. 1756, the NAFTA Trucking Safety Act of 2007, legislation to prohibit Mexican trucks from operating beyond U. S. municipalities and commercial zones on the United States-Mexico border until certain conditions are met to ensure the safety of their operations.
Posted on Monday, August 4, 2008
by Walter Jones for Congress