The House and the Senate have each voted to block the funding of the one-year pilot-program which would allow Mexican trucking companies to run their trucks on U.S. roadways. Bush's administration, in the meantime, apparently will fund the pilot-program through September. Here's more...



http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0912mextrucks0912.html

From the above-noted link,

"Senate votes against trucks from Mexico
Sean Holstege
The Arizona Republic
Sept. 12, 2007 12:00 AM

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to block a one-year experiment allowing Mexican trucks to haul cargo beyond a commercial zone along the border, setting up a potential veto showdown with President Bush.

The Bush administration is a strong advocate of the plan, made possible with the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement, to let Mexican trucks travel anywhere within the United States.

The controversial program kicked off this month, when the government began issuing permits to approved Mexican companies.

But the Senate's 75-23 vote will block funding next fiscal year for the Department of Transportation's administration of the pilot program. The action came one day after a truck full of mining explosives crashed in Mexico's northern state of Coahuila, killing 34 and injuring 150.

Opponents of opening the border, including the Teamsters, said Mexican trucks are unsafe and the U.S. government's ability to regulate them unreliable. A government audit last week said seven states, including New Mexico, were unprepared.

But no law or treaty allows Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. with hazardous materials. Tuesday's action muddles what can happen between now and the end of the federal fiscal year on Sept. 30.

"I think DOT can move full speed ahead until October," said Brigham McCown, a former agency attorney who defended the cross-border program before the Supreme Court. He said the government can legally spend money from the current budget and find other sources to keep it going.

The 31 Mexican companies that have been pre-certified to haul goods north of the border are stuck in limbo. The first of those companies, which altogether own 151 trucks, crossed the border last week. McCown said they could seek permits before October. But it's unclear whether they would be permitted to operate in the U.S. after that.

John Hill, who leads the agency regulating the trucking pilot project, called the Senate's action "a sad victory for the politics of fear and protectionism."

Sen. Jon Kyl voted against the measures, as did all Republicans from border states except Sen. John McCain, who was one of two lawmakers who did not vote. All the Democrats from the border states supported the prohibition."

Dumb move I live in a Border state and I don't like what I read. Of course I'm just one person crying in the wind

quote:

"I think DOT can move full speed ahead until October," said Brigham McCown, a former agency attorney who defended the cross-border program before the Supreme Court. He said the government can legally spend money from the current budget and find other sources to keep it going.

The President can simply ignore the legislation thus effecting a "pocket veto" and, as Mr. McCown alluded, keep the program funded with money rerouted from other government expense accounts.

Can they really do that? I'm dumbfounded. but it doesn't take much to dumbfound me.

quote:

Originally posted by M_Wood51:

quote:

"I think DOT can move full speed ahead until October," said Brigham McCown, a former agency attorney who defended the cross-border program before the Supreme Court. He said the government can legally spend money from the current budget and find other sources to keep it going.

The President can simply ignore the legislation thus effecting a "pocket veto" and, as Mr. McCown alluded, keep the program funded with money rerouted from other government expense accounts.

The definition of "pocket veto" is not signing legislation within ten days before the adjournment of Congress. But I don't think that applies here, Mark, as the monies currently being talked about are monies from next year's fiscal year. True, the President can re-route monies from this fiscal-year from other missions to support the Mexico Truckers' experiment this fiscal year. But Congress, especially the House, can specifically write into law that none of the monies from the next fiscal year that begins in a couple of weeks can be spent to fund this Mexican Truckers' experiment. So I think that if Congress was to say no to spending monies on this for the next fiscal-year, short of the President vetoing the entire bill that the prohibition would become placed into, he'll just have to live with it.



Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law - Cite This Source
Main Entry: pock·et veto
Function: noun
: a veto of legislation that occurs indirectly when an executive refrains from signing the legislation and the adjournment of the legislature prevents its automatic enactment (as upon expiration of ten days)

Except for the sales of the ports, when had President Bush ever listened to the people?

Don
Life-long Republican