Truckload Authority - August/September 2018

Republican Congress
to reform welfare
and keep moving
toward federal surpluses.
For example, Reagan,
confronted with
mounting deficits, agreed
to deficit-reduction measures
that cut spending and raised revenue
in tandem.
Markell noted that Reagan decried the
notion that members of Congress would “bring the government
to the edge of default” to force the president to
accept their approach to deficit reduction. “This brinksmanship,”
Reagan said, “threatens the holders of government
bonds and those who rely on Social Security and
veterans benefits,” along with America’s “well-earned
reputation for reliability and credibility — two things that
set us apart from much of the world.”
So when did partisanship pretty much become the
norm?
“I wish I could tie it to a particular incident, but I don’t
know of one. It just seems more brazen,” Heller said. “As
social media started coming out and new channels began
to appear it started to change, especially when particular
media outlets would take a party spin.”
Heller said Americans have so much information at
their fingertips right now that individual opinions can be
easily swayed, noting now that the news cycles are 24
hours long, what is a big story one day takes the back
pages the next because something else has come out.
Everyone is tied to their cellphones and have news reports
almost instantaneously.
Without a doubt, Heller says, information provided
through social media is often misinformation.
“Our president will address the nation in 140 characters
or less,” Heller said. “[It] probably leads to a lot of
misinformation being spread.”
The outcome of the election could impact how Congress
and the administration deal with trucking concerns,
sleeper berth flexibility being at the top of the list.
“Sleeper berth flexibility is the direction this industry
has to go because we now have electronic logging
devices and they tell the story: Our drivers are not
doing what they need to be doing and that is drive.
That’s no fault of their own,” Heller said. “It’s the fault
of outside influences such as detention time, weather,
congestion. Sleeper berth flexibility is absolutely paramount.”
Passage of legislation to prevent states from enacting
their own rest and meal break laws is just behind the
sleeper berth issue.
“The F4A needle has to be moved,” Heller said. “No
longer can trucking companies be penalized for following
the federal law. That’s what they are supposed to do. They
work in interstate commerce, but yet they are being found
guilty of not upholding state meal and rest break laws.”
The trucking industry is certainly concerned that partisanship
will continue uncontrolled — and that might
impact such issues as the attempt to cut back on regulations.
In that case, it would likely be the Republicans who
would have to reach out with the olive branch.
“A lot has been said about repealing regulations,”
Heller said, “but make no mistake. There are regulations
out there that are truly good regulations. Eliminating the
need for sensible regulations is a concern. We need to talk
about sensible regulations. And it has to be bipartisan in
nature. Safety is not a particular party issue. Safety is a
roadway issue and accidents don’t just involve Democrats
or Republicans.”
The question in electing new representation is how
they will respond when they get to Washington.
During the campaign they say they are going to Congress
to do the will of the people they represent.
But when they get to Washington, they get caught
up in the current partisan culture and the “people” be
damned, he said.
“The question becomes where have we been and
where are we going?” Heller said. “One of the key issues
during the election was the nation’s infrastructure. We all
talked about it. We said we need infrastructure and here
it is in August and we are not having serious discussions
about what needs to be done to repair our roads and
bridges. Instead we’re just kicking the can down the road
and focusing more on social media fake news and anything
else that seems to be going on.”
No doubt about it, the time for inaction is long gone,
Heller emphasized.
“We as a country can’t support inaction. We have to
rise to the occasion and find people who want to get
things done,” he said. “And that has to be done in a bipartisan
fashion. It has to happen when both sides of
the aisle come together and pass rules that make sense,
particularly about the infrastructure. Everybody has to be
involved because rebuilding this nation is essential to just
about everything. Trade, economics, shipping, retail. Infrastructure
is paramount to those.”
There is hope for action, Heller said.
“Our nation is starting to breed some really great ideas
from our next-generation type of thinkers. Technology is
exploding in the trucking industry because there are new
ideas,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to do things differently.
It’s moving the needle on the right things to do. I think
those ideas will start creeping into other things, politics
being one of them as evidenced by that primary in New
York. You had a new thinker, someone who traditionally
hadn’t been part of the establishment, and she stepped
up and beat an incumbent who was thought to be widely
favored. I think that’s going to be the status quo from
now on. New ideas are being maintained. Someone’s willing
to challenge the status quo to do things a little bit
differently and make a difference.”
8 Truckload Authority | www.Truckload.org TCA 2018