Teamsters union General President Jim Hoffa led a rally Wednesday, Dec. 5, at the Otay Mesa border crossing to protest the Bush administration’s pilot program that allows long-haul trucking across the U.S.-Mexico border, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
“The big money boys want to have trucks coming through here that are dangerous,” Hoffa said over cheers from dozens of Teamsters. “Wake up America, fight back. The Mexican government has no database that keeps track of these drivers and no drug testing.”
U.S. Department of Transportation spokeswoman Melissa Mazzella-DeLaney, who was at the rally, told the Union-Tribune that union protectionism is the real force behind opposition and that Hoffa does not have the facts to back up his claims of unsafe trucks and drivers.
“To say that these trucks are not inspected is absolutely false,” Mazzella-DeLaney told the newspaper. “They have more requirements than U.S. trucks.” Likewise, she said Mexican drivers are heavily regulated and must undergo regular drug testing.
A federal transportation bill that includes a ban on funding for the program cleared the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 14. A vote by the U.S. Senate, which is expected to pass the same bill, is pending.
While approved 270-147 by the House, H.R. 3074’s future is in doubt. President Bush has threatened to veto the $105.6 billion package, and the House vote fell eight short of the number needed for an override. Bush says the bill spends about $5.5 billion more than a version submitted by the White House.
The fiscal 2008 transportation spending bill was approved by a House-Senate conference committee on Nov. 8. The committee’s version retained language that would block funding for the Department of Transportation’s pilot program allowing long-haul trucking across the U.S.-Mexico border.
