[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 56 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Page S4530]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. FAIRCLOTH:
  S. 2042. A bill to provide for a program to improve commercial motor 
vehicle safety in the vicinity of the borders between the United States 
and Canada and the United States and Mexico; to the Committee on 
Commerce, Science, and Transportation.


                     the safe highways act of 1998

  Mr. FAIRCLOTH.
  Mr. President, I rise to introduce the Safe Highways Act.
  This bill authorizes $20 million per year over the next five years 
for enforcement activities to prevent unsafe foreign trucks from 
rolling across our borders under NAFTA. This bill will fund inspections 
at our borders to keep these Mexican and Canadian trucks off our roads 
unless they meet our tough truck safety standards. Our standards are 
higher than in Mexico and Canada, and, certainly, I do not want these 
trucks rumbling down our roads and threatening the safety of our 
families.
  Mexican trucks are already permitted to operate in limited areas in 
the United States and, in fact, they have been doing so for two 
decades. We can enforce these standards at the border, but it will take 
training and an increased effort to handle the additional traffic from 
NAFTA, so we need to step up and put this money aside. These foreign 
trucks will soon roam more of our roads under NAFTA. We need to be 
ready. This is literally a matter of life and death for American 
families who share the road with these trucks.
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