[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 52 (Wednesday, April 14, 2010)]
[House]
[Page H2557]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  RENEGOTIATE NAFTA TRUCKING PROVISION

  (Mr. DeFAZIO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. DeFAZIO. The Obama administration has steadfastly refused to 
contest the improper and excessive tariffs of $2.4 billion levied by 
Mexico because Congress terminated the cross-border trucking program 
due to serious safety concerns.
  There is no drug testing in Mexico. There are no hours of service 
requirements in Mexico. There are no meaningful commercial driver's 
licenses issued in Mexico to know what the record of these drivers are. 
Congress overwhelmingly voted to terminate that program.
  But it is rumored that next month when the President of Mexico comes 
to visit, the Obama administration is going to open the border full 
bore to Mexican trucks, jeopardizing the safety of the American public 
and jeopardizing millions of jobs in the trucking industry. They say 
they have no alternative, their hands are tied by NAFTA. Well, there is 
an alternative. And today I was joined in a letter to the President by 
78 Members of Congress, bipartisan, saying renegotiate that one minor 
section of NAFTA that has triggered this dispute. Keep the current 
system.
  The Mexican trucks bring the goods in 20 miles, they drop them, the 
U.S. trucks pick them up and distribute them in the U.S. No U.S. 
company wants to go into Mexico. And let's keep the Mexican companies 
out of the U.S.

                          ____________________