[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 82 (Wednesday, June 13, 2001)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1099]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


               MOTOR CARRIER FUEL COST EQUITY ACT OF 2001

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 13, 2001

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the bi-partisan 
``Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2001'' with my colleagues Mr. 
Blunt of Missouri, Mr. Mollohan of West Virginia, Mr. Ney of Ohio, Mr. 
Peterson of Minnesota, Mr. Strickland of Ohio, Mr. Lipinski of Illinois 
and Ms. Brown of Florida.
  In the 106th Congress, the House passed this bill by suspension of 
the rules on October 10, 2000 because Members recognized the hardship 
small business truckers suffer when they must pay for price spikes in 
the cost of diesel fuel. However, the bill was received in the Senate 
the next day and no further action was taken. Today, my colleagues and 
I re-introduce this bill with the hope that it will be enacted into 
law. Our goal is to ease the financial burden on small business 
truckers who need relief from diesel fuel price spikes.
  Small business truckers are the Owner-Operators, approximately 
350,000 men and women throughout the United States who own, operate and 
maintain their own 18-wheelers for their livelihood. They comprise 
about 67 percent of our nation's trucking force. They pay for their own 
diesel fuel, taxes, highway tolls and permits. These men and women do 
not work for the large trucking companies which negotiate long term 
fuel contracts and can defray part of the cost of skyrocketing fuel 
prices. Unlike the large trucking companies, the Owner-Operators are at 
the mercy of diesel fuel price spikes. They simply do not have the 
market clout to negotiate fuel contracts.
  In the last 18 months, the price of diesel fuel has risen more than 
fifty cents a gallon over the 1999 levels. While the price spikes have 
hurt the entire trucking industry, no one is hurt like the little guy. 
Fuel is the single biggest operating cost of a small business trucker 
and accounts for up to one-third of their budget. According to an 
analyst with A.G. Edwards, almost 200,000 trucks have been repossessed 
since January of 2000 because small business truckers could not make 
ends meet.
  In the third quarter of 2000 over 1,350 companies owning five trucks 
or less went bankrupt. This is nearly double the record set in the 
previous quarter. The price of diesel fuel prices was the primary 
factor in causing these bankruptcies. Just-in-time deliveries are being 
threatened, fewer transportation alternatives for shippers are 
available and consumers could face a rise in the price of various goods 
and commodities resulting in a national economic downturn.
  The ``Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2001'' gives a safety net 
of relief to owner-operators, shippers and consumers by ensuring that a 
fuel surcharge will be assessed at times of diesel fuel price spikes. 
Under terms of a surcharge, a shipper pays to the trucking companies 
the difference between what is deemed to be a baseline cost of diesel 
fuel and the sudden, dramatic increases in the cost of that fuel. The 
legislation provides that the fuel surcharge must be itemized on the 
freight bill or invoice to trucking customers. The fuel surcharge 
arrangement will be enforced solely by the parties themselves through 
private action. The federal government will have no regulatory or 
enforcement authority.
  The bill will not abrogate existing fuel surcharge arrangements. 
Customers who already pay a fuel surcharge will not be affected by this 
legislation. Nothing in the bill will prevent parties in the future 
from establishing a fuel surcharge agreement that is different from 
this pending legislation. All past, current and future privately 
negotiated fuel surcharge agreements are fully respected.
  In calculating a diesel fuel surcharge, pricing will be based on the 
National Average Diesel Fuel Index which is published by the Energy 
Information Administration of the United States Department of Energy. 
Whenever fuel costs return to normal levels, the surcharge will no 
longer be applied.
  America watched the economies of Britain and France thrown into chaos 
on the issue of diesel fuel prices. A lack of relief from diesel fuel 
prices is a formula for disaster in the making, considering the large 
number of bankruptcies we have recently witnessed in the United States.
  The essential feature of the Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 
2001 is that it provides a private right of action as a means to ensure 
that the entity which actually pays for the fuel receives the 
surcharge. No Federal Government enforcement. No cost to the taxpayers. 
Just simply equity and fairness.
  High diesel fuel prices have also had a devastating effect on our 
nation's port drivers. Their poor working conditions have come to the 
attention of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is 
involved in an ongoing effort to organize port truck drivers and to 
bring national attention to their plight.
  It is time that we go to bat for the little guy, the small 
businessperson, and for the integrity of our economy by enacting the 
Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2001.

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