WASHINGTON — The American Trucking Associations warned Congress that unauthorized motor carriers are moving war fighting equipment for the Department of Defense.
Testifying on Wednesday before a House Oversight Committee hearing on foreign threats to the U.S. transportation system, American Trucking Associations President Chris Spear said that the problem was identified by the association’s government freight conference.
The Department of Defense “is improperly awarding shipments to unauthorized carriers to move sensitive cargo, like M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley Fighting Vehicles,” Spear said. “This practice compromises safety by putting military freight in the hands of unvetted carriers and drivers.
“Last year ATA worked with Congress to enact several provisions in the NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] aimed at this problem. We will continue to partner with you to shore this up.”
The NDAA, signed into law by President Trump in December, included a requirement to update the U.S. Army’s freight carrier registration program, including an annual audit to ensure that approved motor carriers and brokers have appropriate operating authority from the U.S. Department of Transportation.
Spear also urged lawmakers to build on enforcement initiatives started by the administration last year to clamp down on fraud and safety violations within commercial trucking, including making English proficiency failure an out-of-service penalty.
“We would advocate that Congress fully codify the English language proficiency for all drivers, that all states should test for this consistently across the board,” Spear said.
The decision by the Obama administration to relax the out of service requirement “took the lives of innocent people, because it put people out on the road, behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound vehicle that should never have been driving,” he said.
“That rule has been on the books since the 1930s. It should be consistent no matter [the political party]. If you care about the safety of people driving in your district, then this needs to be enforced in all 50 states evenly, it’s simply fundamental.”
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