The congressional tug of war over Mexican truckers' access to U.S. highways ended early last month when the House and Senate agreed to accept a compromise version of an amendment that was attached to the FY2002 Transportation Appropriations Bill. President Bush had threatened to veto the bill over stiff requirements for inspecting Mexican carriers but signed the final version on Dec. 18.

The compromise followed negotiations between the White House and Sen. Patricia Murray (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Transportation Subcommittee; Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), her predecessor in that position; Rep. Hal Rogers (R-Ky.), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation; and Rep. Olav Sabo (D-Minn.), ranking member on that committee.

Hot debate over whether Mexican carriers were fit to travel on U.S. highways and how best to ensure they met U.S. safety standards held up passage of the appropriations bill for months. Some Republicans attacked the original Murray-Shelby proposal as a back-door means of indefinitely delaying the border opening and charged that it violated NAFTA provisions requiring equal treatment for the three NAFTA countries. Democrats, labor unions and even some Republicans countered that extra measures to ensure compliance with safety rules were necessary because Mexican carriers didn't meet U.S. and Canadian standards. Proponents of Mexican truck access disputed that claim.

According to Sen. Murray's office, the final version of the bill contains provisions that would:

• Require electronic verification of drivers licenses for every Mexican truck driver carrying high-risk cargo and license verification of at least half of all other drivers crossing the border;
• Require on-site inspections of motor carriers in Mexico before their vehicles will be allowed to travel beyond the existing border commercial zone. Every vehicle must undergo a physical inspection every 90 days in order to operate in the United States, and only carriers that have drug-and-alcohol testing programs, proof of insurance, and drivers with clean driving records will be granted provisional authority to operate in the United States;
• Provide $140 million for additional state and federal inspectors and inspectional facilities;
• Allow DOT to quickly develop implementation rules without having to undergo lengthy public comment procedures;
• Restrict Mexican carriers to crossing only at checkpoints that are staffed by inspectors; and,
• Prohibit Mexican carriers from operating in the United States until the DOT's inspector general has conducted an audit of the U.S. government's ability to enforce safety standards on Mexican carriers and until the DOT secretary has reviewed that report and certified that the opening of the border will not present a safety risk.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which has long wished to restrict Mexican truckers' access to U.S. highways, issued a statement saying that the compromise amendment did not violate NAFTA and protected U.S. interests. But NAFTA expert Dr. James Giermanski, professor of international business at Belmont Abbey College in Charlotte, N.C., and a Logistics columnist, questions that assertion. He believes the bill's provisions are discriminatory, that data concerning Mexican truck safety don't support some provisions of the legislation, and that the on-site inspections interfere with Mexico's sovereignty. "If you just replaced the word 'Mexico' with 'Canada,'" he says, "you can imagine the reaction it would get in Canada."

He also questions the legality of language in the bill that applies some safety provisions only to operations beyond the current border commercial zone. "What they're saying is that we only care if you're safe in the rest of the country and we don't have the same requirements if you're on the border. In principle," Giermanski says, "the same protections that are given to residents of St. Louis should be given to all of us, including residents along the border."

In talks with Mexican President Vicente Fox earlier this year, President Bush promised that the border would open on Jan. 1. The issue was resolved by that deadline, but it will take months, perhaps years, to put all of the bill's provisions in place. When Mexican carriers will actually be traveling on U.S. highways, therefore, is still an open question.