.bmp)
.bmp)
Trucks owned by Mexican trucking companies and piloted by Mexican drivers are scheduled to hit the pavement of U.S. roadways as early as today, according to an Oregon congressman.U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., late yesterday said what critics call the Bush administration's "stealth plan" to allow Mexican long-haul rigs to run on roads throughout the United States is being launched."The Bush administration has indicated to me that tomorrow (Friday) they will open the U.S. border to 100 Mexican-domiciled trucking companies," DeFazio said. "This is a sad day for America."DeFazio's anger was evident in his statement."This administration is hell-bent on opening our borders,” DeFazio said, "but has failed to require that Mexican drivers and trucks meet the same safety and security standards as U.S. drivers and trucks." "That's simply unacceptable," he continued. "The administration is essentially adopting a faith-based paper system without adequate protections for public safety."Executive Vice President Todd Spencer of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association told WND earlier the White House has pursued a "stealth strategy" in launching the Department of Transportation's Mexican truck demonstration project."We are confident that the White House decided long ago every aspect of how up to 100 Mexican trucking companies are going to be allowed to run their long-haul rigs anywhere in the United States," Spencer told WND, "but the American public and Congress are being intentionally kept in the dark."WND broke the news the DOT Mexican truck demonstration project was scheduled to start early this month.Statements by Mexican Transportation Secretary Luis Tellez and reports in Spanish on the Mexican government's transportation department website announced that 37 Mexican trucking companies had satisfactorily met the DOT requirements for participating in the test and the start date was scheduled to be Sept. 1.WND continues to experience difficulties getting any response out of the Bush administration.For weeks, WND has called and left messages for spokeswoman Melissa Delaney at the Federal Motor Carrier Administration and spokeswoman Madeline Chulumovich at the Department of Transportation, without receiving any return phone calls.Those taking messages at FMCSA and DOT continue to tell WND that Delaney and Chulumovich are the correct spokeswomen assigned to comment to the press on the Mexican truck demonstration project.Messages WND left at both agencies again yesterday went unanswered.Spencer charged the White House has intentionally pursued a strategy designed to keep the Mexican truck demonstration project "below the radar," and avoid a public outcry on talk radio and the Internet such as occurred over the nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, with Dubai Ports, and again with President Bush's two failed attempts to jam a comprehensive immigration reform bill through the Senate."The White House does a much better job keeping Mexico informed than the U.S. public or Congress," Spencer said pointedly. "Since March, we have credible reports that the Bush administration has been telling groups in Mexico that the one-year pilot program is merely a formality. Bush administration officials are willing to say in Mexico that once the one year had elapsed, the border would be wide open to all Mexican trucks."Spencer charged the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is "making up the rules as they go along" for exactly how the Mexican truck demonstration project would be launched, operated, or evaluated."There's no doubt in my mind that the Bush administration is trying to manage the news so the Mexican truck issue does not explode on the American public like Dubai Ports or the Kennedy-McCain comprehensive immigration reform bill did," Spencer said. "The White House spin never stops.""Why is the Bush administration preparing to issue visas to the Mexican drivers for six months?"Spencer asked."This is the first guest worker program, whether the White House wants to admit it or not.Canadian drivers don't have to have visas, so why would a Mexican driver have to have a visa, especially a visa valid for six months?"
To read more go to:
As in the days of Noah...
