Chaos in the halls of Congress, where the normally collegial body lost its decorum in a hearing with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.
Wait. I'm sorry, I was thinking of something else. There was more of the same at a recent hearing in the Capitol when Byron Dorgan (D. ND) grilled Secretary Peters. As reported in Transportation Topics, Dorgan drafted a section of the DOT budget bill that cut off funding for a program that would allow up to 100 Mexican trucking companies to operate in the US. A similar number of US carriers could also operate in Mexico under the program. Dorgan has opposed the program.
Secretary Peters argued that the provision in the bill did not cutoff funding for the program, but simply denied funding for any future cross-border trucking program. Dorgan said that this was clearly not the intent of the bill, and accused the DOT lawyers of playing games with their interpretation of the funding (or rather de-funding) provision.
Dorgan is a "D," and Peters is a Bush appointee, so you get a sense of where the two are coming from. Check out the article for Dorgan's dig at the Bush Administration's position on interrogation of enemy combatants (no, it has nothing to do with trucking, but it is entertaining nonetheless).
The cross-border trucking program has all sorts of implications for the US trucking industry, including the effect of competition from low-cost carriers from Mexico, potential safety issues, and driver qualifications.
On an administrative note, I am in the process of moving this blog to my firm website www.ddllaw.com. My goal is to have a general blog where I discuss all the topics that touch upon my practice. Check in every now and then to see the progress!
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