February 7, 2008

(Washington, D.C.) – Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa said Thursday that members of Congress should be aware that Transportation Secretary Mary Peters is spending federal funds in defiance of a budget law passed last year.

Peters has spent taxpayer dollars without authority on the cross-border trucking pilot project. She did so despite the Omnibus budget signed into law on Dec. 26. The law expressly forbade any spending on the project.

Peters was scheduled to testify on her 2009 budget request before the House Appropriations subcommittee on Transportation Thursday afternoon.

“The last time I looked, the U.S. Constitution only gives Congress the authority to decide how federal funds are spent,” Hoffa said. “Where does Mary Peters think she gets the authority to overrule Congress?”

The Teamsters this week launched a “Fire Mary Peters” campaign because she illegally opened the borders to trucks from Mexico. 

Hoffa said Peters misled Congress on measures taken to ensure that the borders wouldn’t be open to trucks that posed a danger to the American traveling public. She claimed that inspectors carefully checked Mexican carriers and their trucks to ensure they conform to U.S. safety standards before they were allowed to participate in the cross-border pilot project. 

Trinity Industries de Mexico is a carrier with 1,123 safety violations reported in the year before the pilot project began in September. After Trinity’s safety record was made public in a declaration to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, the company dropped out of the pilot project.

“How is it that a Mexican truck company that operates dangerous trucks was allowed over the border until last week?” Hoffa said. “Mary Peters has some explaining to do.” 

The Teamsters are challenging the legality of the cross-border pilot project in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco. Oral arguments will be heard Feb. 12.

The Teamsters today launched a national grassroots, netroots campaign to remove Mary Peters from office because she broke the law.

For more information about the campaign, go to www.FireMaryPeters.com.

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.4 million hardworking men and women in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.