Truckload Authority - Winter 2014/15

infrastructure to deteriorate to third world status,” he
said, quickly noting that there are “nearly 150,000
structurally deficient and functionally obsolete bridges
on our roads today; trucks are being rerouted because
of weight restrictions and people are wasting time and
gasoline in traffic.”
“The U.S. must do better,” he proclaimed. “As ranking
member, I will be a tireless advocate for the kind
of infrastructure investment that results in job creation,
increased efficiency and strategic growth. Two key vehicles
for this investment include the Federal Aviation
Administration and surface transportation authorization
bills, both of which I plan to tackle immediately in a bipartisan
fashion with Chairman Shuster. Together, we
can lay the groundwork for infrastructure investment
that delivers for generations to come.”
Over in the Senate, South Dakota’s John Thune
will take over the chairmanship of the Commerce, Science
and Transportation Committee.
Not much is known about the direction in which
Thune will lead the committee and he did not respond
to repeated requests to answer questions for this article,
but Reagle offered an opinion.
“I would think No. 1 he would
want a reauthorization bill,” Reagle
said.
While a new highway bill is
top of mind for the new Congress,
trucking industry executives also
are concerned about how the new
Congress will view the matter of
regulatory affairs.
Shuster said he’s aware of the
importance of the trucking industry
to the American economy.
“The trucking industry is a vital
cog in our nation’s economy,” he
told Truckload Authority. “About
50 percent of U.S. freight tonnage
travels less than 100 miles from
origin to destination, with trucks
carrying almost 85 percent of that
freight. The industry — from large trucking companies
to independent operators — must be safe, but it must
also be efficient and effective. We cannot burden our
truck drivers with unnecessary, duplicative or crippling
regulations. We must ensure a balanced regulatory
structure that maintains a high level of safety and allows
our truckers to thrive.”
The most controversial of those regulations continues
to be the 34-hour restart provision of the 2013
Hours of Service rule.
Earlier this year, the Senate Appropriations Committee
passed an amendment to a transportation and
housing funding bill that would have suspended the 34-
hour restart provision for a year while a field study is
undertaken.
The amendment made it to the Senate floor, but a
procedural issue derailed the funding bill.
Reagle said the issue is likely to be on the Senate
radar during the next session. Indeed, Sen. Susan Collins,
R-Maine, who introduced the amendment in the
first place, said early in December she would re-introduce
the amendment.
“Since the new Senate is not in place, it would be
hard to tell what its priorities would be,” Reagle said.
“But I would think for a good many people in the industry
that is still a big issue and they would continue
to push it. I’m not sure how the Senate would view it,
but I think from the industry perspective it seems to be
an issue that is brewing out there.”
It’s also a good bet that the new Congress will
keep a close tab on other regulatory issues that were
mandated in MAP-21, but whether the Republicans
will seek to temper the direction of those mandates
is yet to be seen.
Among those mandates:
• The Commercial Driver’s License Drug and Alcohol
Clearinghouse, which is in the final stages of
rulemaking, but could be delayed by requests for further
changes before implementation.
• Electronic Logging Devices and Hours of Service
Supporting Documents. Included in the omnibus
transportation appropriations legislation is language
that few in trucking have even talked about, and that is
a requirement that the Department of Transportation
“I really worry whether it’s Republicans or Democrats
[in control] that we’ll ever see another six-year
highway bill. And that obviously affects the hell out
of the trucking industry because if we don’t have
good highways, we’re in deep trouble.”
-George Reagle
release its ELD final rule no later than January 30,
2015, and conduct a study with these newly-compliant
ELDs on the Hours of Service rule. The FMCSA
staff recently indicated it wouldn’t release this rule
until September 2015, which critics believes puts the
proposed rule at risk.
• Prohibition of Coercion, which is part of the ELD
rulemaking and would ensure that an operator of a
commercial motor vehicle is not coerced by a motor
carrier, shipper, receiver or transportation intermediary
to operate a commercial vehicle in violation of a
federal regulation. The lack of anti-coercion language
derailed earlier efforts at an ELD rule.
Finally, there are issues outside trucking that will
impact the industry, and those have created a waitand-see
mentality among most within the industry.
They include President Barack Obama’s executive
order on immigration and Obamacare.
Even before Obama revealed details of his executive
action to protect 4-5 million immigrants illegally
living in the U.S., Republicans were vowing to thwart
it and Democrats were defending it.
“If President Obama acts in defiance of the people
and imposes his will on the country, Congress
will act,” vowed Senate Minority Leader Mitch Mc-
Connell, R-Ky., who will become majority leader in
January.
Thune chimed in by saying that Obama’s decision
demonstrated a willful disregard of the American
people. “The president’s policies and go-it-alone approach
were soundly rejected on election night, but
he doesn’t appear to be interested in listening to the
American people,” he said.
Meanwhile, Democrats said the president is within
his legal authority to take action to overhaul the
nation’s dysfunctional immigration system and must
do so since House Republicans have failed to pass
a bill.
“If we don’t act, the dire situation of undocumented
immigrants will only get worse, families will continue
to be torn apart, people will continue to live in the
shadows,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif. “I say to
the president ... you will have my strong support and
you will have the support of so many people across
the country. You will keep families
together, you will strengthen
our economy, you will make our
country stronger.”
Some in the trucking industry
are concerned that immigrants,
anxious to earn a legal living in
America, will accept lower pay
from trucking companies, driving
down wages overall and diluting
the earning power of existing
drivers.
Congressional action might
be a moot point, however. On
December 3, 17 states, all with
Republican governors, filed suit
in federal court in Texas asking
that Obama’s action be declared
illegal and be overturned.
As for Obamacare, the president
has vowed to protect core elements of the plan
from an almost assured GOP assault.
“Repeal of the law I won’t sign. Efforts that would
take away health care from the 10 million people
who now have it and the millions more who are now
eligible to get it, we’re not going to support,” he said
shortly after the election.
“But,” he said, “if, in fact, one of the items on
Mitch McConnell’s and [Speaker of the House] John
Boehner’s agenda is to make responsible changes
to the Affordable Care Act to make it work better, I’m
going to be very open and receptive to hearing those
ideas. But what I will remind them is that, despite all
the contention, we now know that the law works.”
This article began by saying that gaining consensus
on most any issue, including the weather,
would be difficult to achieve.
On second thought, we’d like to amend that
statement.
Everyone can agree that Washington politics is
going to make for interesting reading for the next
24 months.
Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2014-15