House passes transportation spending bill, but Bush vows to veto it

Staff -- Logistics Management, 11/15/2007

WASHINGTON—The much publicized cross-border trucking initiative between the United States and Mexico may be facing another roadblock after the United States House of Representatives passed a $105.6 billion bill for transportation, housing and community development programs, according to an Associated Press report.

The bill—entitled H.R. 3074 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008—would block the Department of Transportation from moving forward with a pilot program that would give Mexican and American trucks more access to each others highways, the AP reported.

When the program was first rolled out by the DOT earlier this year, it proposed that a few Mexican trucking companies, including some that currently operate daily in El Paso and San Diego, would be able to travel beyond the approximately 25 mile commercial zone that runs along the U.S. border.  And participating U.S. and Mexican trucking companies could begin their new operations immediately once they have been granted operating authority by the DOT and have secured cargo to haul.

According to a statement from the White House, President George W. Bush is prepared to veto this bill. One main reason for his pending veto is that the bill “includes a level of highway spending that is $2.3 billion above the President’s request and exacerbates the strained financial condition of the Highway Trust Fund….[which] would plunge the highway account into deficit by $5 billion in 2009.” The statement added that highway spending must be focused on projects with the highest priority.

The Senate is expected to vote on H.R. 3074 this week.