[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Pages 5624-5625]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




          OPPOSITION TO EXPANDED MEXICAN TRUCKING IN THE U.S.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from North Carolina (Mr. Jones) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. JONES of North Carolina. Mr. Speaker, in just a matter of weeks, 
thousands of Mexican trucks will stream across America's southern 
border and pour onto U.S. highways throughout the country.
  The U.S. Department of Transportation has given 100 Mexican trucking 
companies the green light to unleash an unlimited number of trucks onto 
the highways of America as part of a 1-year pilot program.
  Right now, Mexican trucks are only permitted to travel inside a 25-
mile commercial zone along the U.S. border, but, soon, thousands of 
Mexican trucks will have full access to all the Nation's roads.
  Allowing low-paid drivers and substandard trucks to travel our 
Nation's roads will endanger the safety of American citizens. It will 
cost thousands of American jobs.

[[Page 5625]]

  As an extension of NAFTA, this program is just another example of 
U.S. trade policies that fail American workers. Before NAFTA, our 
Nation ran a trade surplus with Mexico. Now, the U.S. runs a $65 
billion annual trade deficit with Mexico. The U.S. has lost 3 million 
manufacturing jobs in just the past 6 years.
  Launching this pilot program in the name of free trade is just one 
more example of how our government continues to give away American 
jobs. This program will not only hurt the economy but will put our 
national security at risk.
  The Department of Transportation claims that all of these Mexican 
trucks will be inspected by U.S. officials in Mexico and at the border, 
but, Mr. Speaker, less than 10 percent of all Mexican trucks entering 
the commercial zone are inspected now, only 10 percent. The U.S. cannot 
afford to send inspectors to Mexico when only a fraction of the 
hundreds of thousands of U.S. truck companies are inspected each year.
  With no guaranteed way to inspect the cargo of each and every truck, 
this program could easily aid terrorist activities, the entry of 
illegal drugs and illegal human smuggling.
  Mr. Speaker, for the sake of appeasing Mexico, our government is not 
protecting the national security of this country and the future of our 
economy. This program does nothing but endanger the safety of American 
citizens, and it is unacceptable.
  I hope the American people will continue to contact this 
administration to tell them of their outrage and disappointment.

                              {time}  1740

  Mr. Speaker, before I close, this is from a heading in an eastern 
North Carolina paper that says, ``Bush Decision on Mexican Trucks 
Promotes Era.'' People are upset and mad. I want to read just very 
briefly, ``The news that Mexican trucks will be allowed to haul freight 
deep into the United States drew angry reaction Friday from labor 
leaders, safety advocates and Members of Congress.'' They said, 
``Mexico has substandard trucks and low-paid drivers that will threaten 
national security, cost thousands of jobs and endanger motorists on the 
northern side of the Mexican border.''
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that the people of this great Nation will listen 
to these discussions and debates by my colleagues on both sides of the 
aisle, because if we are concerned about national security, we should 
not allow these trucks to have free access to the roads of the American 
people.

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