How many Coloradoans are aware of yet another attempt by the Bushites and corporatists to degrade the livelihoods of the state's and the country's middle and working classes?
But, here it is ... part of the NAFTA, "immigration reform" scam that will undercut union jobs, and will turn the United States into a genuine low-wage nation.
Despite opposition from Teamsters, the Sierra Club, and independent truckers, Bush's Department of Transportation is moving ahead with a "pilot" plan to let Mexican trucking companies more freight anywhere within the United States.
And just how long will it be then before the corporate trucking companies move their bases of operations south of the border? How long will it be before non-union, low-wage drivers replace most of our hard working, decently paid truckers?
The spiral downward for middle America is well underway -- all for the profit of Bush's masters, the mega-transnational corporations.
Who is on your side in the nation's capital?
Link: Friday Night Document Dumps | James P. Hoffa/Huffington Post
If Richard Nixon's Saturday Night Massacre undermined democracy, so do George Bush's Friday Night Document Dumps. ...
... Bush habitually makes controversial announcements on Friday night, after networks and newspaper deadlines. The practice subtly and insidiously undermines democracy. It deprives the public of information it needs to make decisions about its leaders.
Take last Friday, when the U.S. Department of Transportation announced it had published details of its cross-border trucking program. The press release made the bold claim that it "continued to meet or exceed every condition required by law."
Reporters had little time to read the 17-page, legalese-rich document. Opponents had even less time to point out that in no way does the Bush administration's reckless plan to allow Mexican trucks travel freely on American highways "meet or exceed every condition required by law. ...
... Bush knows the American people don't want dangerous Mexican trucks driving around the U.S. Could there be any better evidence than his decision to forge ahead with this reckless program on a Friday night? And could there be a less democratic way to go about it?
Link: White House Presses Senate to Allow Mexican Trucks | WorldNetDaily.com
In an effort to ensure Mexican trucks will begin rolling across the U.S. on schedule, the Bush administration is pressing the Senate to not take any action on a bill passed overwhelmingly by the House that essentially would block the project.
Sources within the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation have confirmed in background conversations that the panel has put on hold taking any action on the Safe American Roads Act of 2007, the bill the House passed May 15 by a vote of 411-3.
At the encouragement of the White House, the senators on the transportation committee are taking the position that the requirements of the Safe American Roads Act were wrapped into the provisions of H.R. 2206, the Iraq supplemental funding bill, signed May 25 by President Bush.
At the moment, the staff of the Senate transportation panel has no plans to discuss a Senate bill comparable to Safe American Roads Act before the July recess.
An unhappy Todd Spencer, executive director of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, believes the Bush administration "has preordained that the Mexican truck demonstration project will begin regardless who objects."
"Simply put, the Bush administration has turned a tin ear to both the public and the Congress and there are no objections which can put a stop to the DOT plans," ...
... The only remaining step required by the Iraq supplemental funding bill is for the DOT inspector general to confirm that the regulations published by FMCSA meet the safety and security requirements specified by Congress in the Iraq supplemental funding bill.
Allowing an extra month for this requirement to be filled, industry insiders now anticipate the Mexican truck demonstration project will begin Aug. 15, one month later than the July 15 start anticipated as recently as a week ago.
"No matter how many forms FMCSA creates," Spencer said, "nobody can assure us that the Mexican commercial driver licenses or drug testing procedures are up to U.S. standards."
"DOT is jamming these regulations for us, yet we seriously doubt that Mexico will have controls in place that will assure the U.S. public that the Mexican trucks allowed in the United States will be safe or secure," he said.
Link: DOT Presses Forward With Cross-Border Program | Land Line Magazine
With the ink barely dry on President Bush’s signature on supplemental war funding legislation that included restrictions on a Mexican cross-border trucking program, the U.S. DOT published a Federal Register notice that largely blows off the issues and directives outlined by Congress, OOIDA officials said.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration published a notice in the Federal Register Friday, June 8, that outlines responses to a laundry list of directives Congress included as part of the supplemental war spending legislation.
Section 6901 directed the agency, among other things, to publish Federal Register notices on a variety of regulatory and safety concerns. Rather than publish individual, detailed notices on each issue, FMCSA rolled the information into one notice.
And, it’s only giving the public 20 days to comment on the information.
“It’s apparent the Bush administration is thumbing its nose at the will of the American people and Congress,” said Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.
Link: Union Tries to Block Program | Press-Telegram/Long Beach - April 30, 2007
The Teamsters Union has filed a federal lawsuit in an effort to block a new pilot program allowing Mexican long-haul trucks unrestricted access to the United States.
The lawsuit against the Department of Transportation was submitted just prior to the program's expected launch this week at ports of entry in Southern California, Arizona, Texas and New Mexico.
DOT officials said Friday the program remains "on track," but has been delayed in wake of the legal action and opposition by lawmakers on both sides of the border.
The program would initially permit 100 Mexican trucking companies to haul goods anywhere in the country as long as their fleets meet federal safety standards.
Teamsters officials, joined by the Sierra Club and a coalition of independent truckers, say the new program allows dangerous, polluting rigs unlimited access to America's highways and ports.
"The Bush administration is trying to circumvent safety requirements by repackaging this plan as an illegal pilot program," Teamsters President Jim Hoffa said April 24, shortly after the lawsuit was filed in a San Francisco Federal Court.
"Inspectors can't enforce truck safety in the United States, let along south of the border," he said.
Teamsters also say the program allows foreign trucking companies to unfairly undercut American wages and carrier rates.