July 30, 2001 -- All last week, the U.S. Senate's GOP leadership bored C-Span watchers to tears with procedural tactics intended to delay passage of the legislation that would protect U.S. highways from unsafe Mexican truck traffic. The U.S. Senate will begin debate anew this afternoon on the safety provisions for Mexican trucks contained in HR2299, the Department of Transportation spending bill.

Senate leaders had sought to end the protracted debate on Friday, but that effort fell three votes short (57-27) because of senators leaving town early for the weekend. Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) have proposed extensive requirements that Mexican trucks and the DOT must meet before Mexican trucks are allowed to haul to any U.S. state. Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Phil Gramm (R-TX) are leading the minority effort to water down the Murray/Shelby amendment. McCain and Gramm and other GOP lawmakers contend the Murray/Shelby safety proposal is too restrictive and would violate NAFTA.

Among those most interested in the outcome are U.S. truckers. "Most of the editorial coverage from the mainstream press characterizes this issue not as a safety issue but as support for organized labor or support for NAFTA," says Todd Spencer, executive vice president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association. "This coverage scarcely acknowledges the real highway issues involved for motorists and for truckers."

Spencer cites documentation that safety systems in Mexico are either completely non-existent or primitive at best. "It is a fact," he says, "that neither the U.S. government or individual states have the number of inspectors that would be needed to adequately oversee the numbers of trucks from Mexico that would cross the border and operate throughout the United States to assure compliance with U.S. safety laws.

It is also a fact, says Spencer, that no U.S. federal agency has formulated a plan to assure trucks and drivers from Mexico would adhere to U.S. laws on immigration or cabotage (hauling goods within the U.S. borders). There is no plan, he says, that assures compliance with state and federal tax laws. "Nor is there any such plan at the state level," he adds. "In fact, state officials in all but the four border states have no idea what issues will be raised with the emergence of large numbers of trucks and drivers from Mexico...and the U.S. government has made no effort to inform them."

Spencer does not believe the fate of NAFTA hinges on whether the U.S. has the ability to adequately assess and monitor safety of Mexican truckers. "NAFTA went into effect in 1994. The treatys benefits (or lack of) to the U.S. have been a subject of discussion during Senate floor debate, but the trucking provisions were never a big issue with the treaty," he says. "Truth is, few Mexican truckers want to operate in the U.S., and fewer yet want U.S. trucks operating in Mexico."

Spencer makes reference to U.S. trade agreements with dozens of nations all around the globe and points out that except for Canada, none of those agreements have provisions that promote international truck traffic. "It is more than reasonable that a trucker from one country be expected to assure any other country that he will comply with all of their laws before commencing operations in that other country," he says. "This isn't protectionism. It's simple common sense."

Is the support behind the Murray/Shelby amendment a labor movement to stop NAFTA as some in the media contend? Spencer says not at all. Senators Murray and Shelby themselves have repeatedly stated that they themselves voted for NAFTA. "This issue is driven entirely by the concern for highway safety," he says, encouraging truckers to call both senators. "Tell them you are a small business trucker, not a Teamster, and that you support the Murray/Shelby amendment out of concern for safety."

Spencer is convinced that many lawmakers have done their homework on the NAFTA trucking issue. "The fact that a majority of lawmakers in both the House and the Senate have raised concerns over border safety issues is proof that they really have looked at these issues," he says.

Spencer says OOIDA is more than adamant that the border between the U.S. and Mexico is not ready to be opened to trucks from Mexico. "Neither country is ready," he says, "I do not doubt that someday the border will open, but to have that happen prematurely is in the interests of neither country."