Teamsters to Bush Administration: "Obey the Law"

Teamsters to Bush Administration: "Obey the Law"

Contact: Leslie Miller, (202) 624-6911

December 21, 2007

(Washington, D.C.) – Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa today reminded the Bush administration that Congress ordered a stop to the pilot program allowing trucks from Mexico on our highways.

Congress banned funding for the cross-border trucking program as part of the omnibus spending bill passed Wednesday. The Teamsters fought the pilot project from the start because of real concerns that trucks from Mexico aren’t safe.

"We expect the Bush administration to stop this program in its tracks the instant the bill is signed," said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. "However, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has shown over and over that it can’t be trusted to obey the law.

"If FMCSA doesn’t halt long-haul trucks from Mexico at the border, you can bet the Teamsters will be in court to stop them," Hoffa said.

The Teamsters are already in court—the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco—to halt the cross-border truck pilot project. The spending bill only bans funding for the 2008 budget year, which ends Sept. 30.

"The pilot program was illegal in the first place," Hoffa said. "Now Congress has made it absolutely clear that it would be lawless for FMCSA to continue it.

The case is expected to be heard in February.

Some trucks from Mexico have been allowed to travel beyond the narrow border zone since earlier this year under the Bush administration’s unsafe pilot program.

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