Bush allows Mexican trucks

[SHRED]

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Bush looking for loopholes to help his corporate cronies.

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Mexican trucks allowed into U.S. despite new law to stop them

Associated Press
Jan. 4, 2008 01:14 PM
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is going ahead with a controversial pilot program giving Mexican trucks greater access to U.S. highways despite a new law by Congress against it.

The decision to proceed with the four-month-old program, which allows participating Mexican trucking companies to send loads throughout the United States, comes despite language in the recently signed catchall spending bill aimed at blocking it.

But the Department of Transportation is taking advantage of a loophole in the new law, which prohibits the government from spending any money to "establish" the program. The government says the new rules don't apply to the current program since it was started in September.

~SNIP~

"They know what the law says," retorted Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., who won a 74-24 vote to block the program. "And they're not above the law." Dorgan warned they better follow the law.

MORE:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0104mexican-trucks0104-ON.html

[LaStrega]

1. wha? Bush doing something unlawful?

:sarcasm:


More union jobs under attack by good ol' compassionate shrub.

:banghead:

[peace13]

2. It will be interesting to see how accountable these carriers are

in the event of an accident. Don't hold your breath on collecting.

[leeman67]

3. Like, why should Bush start following the law now?

he's been breaking it since the day he took office, and no one seems to be able to do anything about it. What with Nancy "Impeachment Is Off The Table" Pelosi providing the so-called checks and balances.

[JohnnyRingo]

4. Deja Vu

If only he went after bin Laden with the tenacity he shows for fighting unions.

From 1996:
Bush NAFTA position blasted by Teamsters

FORT WORTH (AP) - The Teamsters Union has set its sights on Gov. George W. Bush over his support for lifting a moratorium on Mexican freight trucks in Texas and other southwestern states.

At issue is a provision in the North American Free Trade Agreement that allows Mexican trucks to haul goods anywhere in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico and California.

Under NAFTA, the trucks were to be allowed into the region in December 1995 and anywhere in the United States after 2000.

But implementation was delayed a year ago by the Transportation Department amid concerns that the trucks didn't meet safety and weight requirements.

<snip>

"The reason we're targeting George Bush on this is because he is on record as supporting NAFTA,'' Teamsters spokesman Rand Wilson told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "And we believe allowing trucks from Mexico in the United States would be a threat to highway safety.''

In half-page advertisements appearing in some Texas newspapers this month, the truckers' union says Mexico's freight trucks are overweight, underinsured and driven by underpaid truckers. The ad includes a photograph of a highway accident with the message "Don't let George W. Bush destroy highway safety and good Texas jobs.''

http://www.lubbockonline.com/news/120196/bush.htm

Like father. like son:



Photo from the George HW Buxh presidential library
http://bushlibrary.tamu.edu/

See: Photos/view select photos/foreign affairs