Border battle heating up

WASHINGTON, D.C. (July 20) – U.S. President Bush is deep in a fight over his plan to open the U.S. border to long-distance Mexican trucks by the first of next year.

Battle lines were drawn at hearings in the Senate and the House this week, as appropriations committees negotiate funding legislation for the Department of Transportation. The House has a bill that would prevent the administration from opening the border as planned – a bill that faces a veto threat by President Bush – while the Senate has proposed tougher border enforcement than DOT recommends.

It remains to be seen whether the Bush administration will be able to open the border on schedule. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta told Congress that he believes DOT can get its enforcement systems ready in time for the Jan. 1, 2002, opening – but added that if the pieces are not in place he will postpone the opening. He also said he will ask for more money, if he needs it.

The possibility of postponement puts pressure on the Bush administration. Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the border was supposed to open gradually starting in 1995, but the Clinton administration reneged on that deal. Last year, Mexico complained, and won a decision from a NAFTA review panel that the U.S. was in the wrong and that Mexico could impose sanctions.

This past winter, Mexico agreed to postpone sanctions while the U.S. worked on a plan to open the border by January 2002. If the U.S. cannot make that deadline, there is the possibility that Mexico will press for sanctions.

Meanwhile, Mineta said, DOT is moving ahead with plans to hire and train additional border personnel, as well as other enforcement initiatives. And, he said, FMCSA is reviewing comments it received on its proposal and expects to issue a final rule this fall, perhaps in October.

-Truckinginfo.com