Fri Mar 23, 12:33 AM ET

 

Contact: Leigh Strope, +1-202-624-6911, for International Brotherhood of Teamsters

 

WASHINGTON, March 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The Teamsters scored a significant victory today in the fight to stop President Bush’s reckless plan to open the United States’ border to unsafe Mexican trucks, with a key Senate committee voting to block the pilot project.

 

“The 1.4 million members of the Teamsters Union were heard loud and clear on Capitol Hill today,” said Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa. “This is an important first step in our fight to keep America’s highways safe and secure.”

 

The Senate Appropriations Committee blocked funding for the dangerous pilot program by passing an amendment requiring the Transportation Department to publish details of the plan and to provide time for public comment. The committee also voted to require that the pilot project meet congressionally mandated safety and security standards.

 

The Bush administration is trying to circumvent those safety requirements by repackaging the plan as a pilot project, allowing 100 Mexican trucking firms open access to U.S. highways, putting American drivers at risk.

 

The amendment was sponsored by Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan of North Dakota, Dianne Feinstein of California and Patty Murray of Washington.

 

“The Teamsters Union has successfully led the battle to keep our border closed for the past 12 years, and we will not let up in our fight as this measure moves through Congress,” Hoffa said. “I want to thank our allies on Capitol Hill for standing strong for highway safety.”

 

Hearings in both the Senate and House have revealed that too many questions remain about how the Bush administration’s dangerous experiment will be carried out, the Transportation Department’s ability to inspect trucks and the Mexican government’s ability to meet U.S. standards for regulating hours of service, driver training and licensing.

 

Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters is the nation’s largest transportation union, representing 1.4 million hardworking women and men throughout the United States and Canada.

 

SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters