Congress to vote on cross-border truck plan de-funding

Congress to vote on cross-border truck plan de-funding For the second time this year, the U.S. House of Representatives is poised to pass legislation de-funding a controversial Bush administration program allowing Mexican-domiciled trucks deep into the United States.
   Last week the House approved a compromise final version of the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development departments' appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008. The approval capped a process to merge the original House and Senate versions of the bill, which provided $50.8 billion and $51.3 billion, respectively. Both houses approved their individual versions of the budget bill in mid-September.
   The compromise bill includes language that essentially de-funds the Department of Transportation pilot program that allows registered, Mexican-domiciled truck companies to move goods from Mexico across the border, and deliver the goods via U.S. highways. To date seven of the project's projected goals of 100 Mexican trucking firms have been certified to operate in the United States. Part of the program grants reciprocal rights for U.S. trucks to operate in Mexico.
   The plan has met fierce opposition from labor, trucking and public safety groups, with most citing U.S. job losses and inadequate U.S. control of safety regulations on Mexican trucks and drivers as main concerns.
   Earlier this year, both the House and Senate added de-funding language regarding the truck program to their individual T-HUD budget bills, but the administration continued forward with the plan. The first Mexican truck to cross the border under the plan made a southern U.S. delivery in September, just a week before both houses passed the de-funding language.
   The House is not set to vote on the compromise plan until after the holiday recess although the Senate may vote on it this week.
   President Bush has said he will veto the bill because it proposes $4 billion more in spending than he recommended.