[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16738]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         NAFTA/BORDER CROSSING

  Mr. BLUMENAUER. Madam Speaker, part of the challenge of a livable 
community is to help people compete in and adjust to the new global 
economy. Trade in North America is an important part of that challenge. 
Since the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement, the 
commerce between Mexico and the United States has grown from $80 
billion to about $200 billion and is steadily rising. In part, it could 
be said to be working.
  But there are some points of serious challenge that are hidden in the 
statistics about commerce. I am particularly concerned about lax cross-
border crossing controls that put the driving public at risk and put 
United States trucking and passenger transport at a competitive 
disadvantage.
  There are some very serious problems, the most significant of which 
is that Mexican enforcement programs are still virtually nonexistent 5 
years after the enactment of NAFTA. And according to the Inspector 
General, our own United States Department of Transportation does not, 
and I quote, ``. . . have a consistent enforcement program that 
provides reasonable assurance of the safety of Mexican trucks entering 
the United States.''
  Furthermore, should the moratorium on cross-border trucking be lifted 
in the near term, our Department of Transportation is not ready to 
reasonably enforce the United States' safety regulation on Mexican 
carriers. Few of the 11,000 trucks now crossing daily into the United 
States are inspected, and almost one-half of those which are inspected 
have problems so serious they must be immediately ordered off the road. 
Yet, it is not clear even those ordered off the road comply.
  Also, the Department of Transportation and State inspectors do not 
routinely provide inspection coverage on evenings or weekends, thereby 
allowing thousands of trucks to enter the United States without even 
the threat of possible inspection.
  It is not just a problem dealing with trucking. Mexican buses and 
passenger vans pose a serious threat to highway safety, with low 
inspection rates and an out-of-service rate twice as high as United 
States buses.
  Under recently enacted TEA 21, $124 million of infrastructure was 
allocated for border and trade corridor investment. There is certainly 
the need and there are resources available. The DOT should use the $10 
million per year in TEA 21 for national priority and border safety 
enforcement activities to station staff at the border and to assist 
State border oversight efforts.
  Moreover, Texas and Arizona border inspection facilities and staffing 
are woefully inadequate. Neither State has permanent truck inspection 
facilities at the border, even though 76 percent of cross-border truck 
traffic entering the United States comes through those two States.
  The issue goes beyond just simply what happens at those borders. 
There are 24 other non-border States that the Inspector General found 
where over 600 inspection records suggest that 68 motor carriers 
domiciled in Mexico operated illegally outside the permitted United 
States commercial zones.
  I feel very strongly, as a person who supports free trade, and I 
would have voted for NAFTA had I been in Congress at that time, because 
my area and increasingly the United States economy is contingent upon 
free and open trade activity, but there is no excuse for us to have at 
risk our environmental and safety laws.
  This week over 30 of my colleagues are calling upon the Committee on 
Transportation and Infrastructure chairman, the gentleman from 
Pennsylvania (Mr. Shuster), and the ranking member, the gentleman from 
Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar), to consider convening hearings on these 
serious cross-border problems associated with commercial vehicles and 
NAFTA. Being able to focus on the problem, and more important, to be 
able to bring the United States' action to bear, both on the Federal 
level and the State level, is critical if we are going to fully realize 
the promise of free trade without putting our Nation's citizens and our 
environmental laws at risk.

                          ____________________