The Teamsters is launching a nationwide grassroots campaign today, Feb. 7, to fire Transportation Secretary Mary Peters for opening the border to trucks from Mexico, the union announced Wednesday, Feb. 6. “It’s a disgrace that Mary Peters is still in office,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters general president.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s cross-border pilot program, which has been in place since Sept. 6, allows a limited number of Mexican trucking companies to operate beyond the 25-mile commercial zone in the United States. Under a reciprocity agreement with Mexico, the one-year pilot program also allows a limited number of U.S. carriers to operate into Mexico.
The program seemingly saw its final demise – at least for the current fiscal year – on Dec. 26, 2007, when President Bush signed a so-called omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 2764) that wrapped together funding for the entire federal government except for the Department of Defense, which already was funded under separate legislation.
The compromise funding bill that Congress sent to Bush on Dec. 19 – which passed the House on Dec. 17 and the Senate on Dec. 18 – included a prohibition denying funds “to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones along the international border between the United States and Mexico.”
However, FMCSA said the current cross-border pilot project will continue despite the funding ban, saying the language in the appropriations bill prohibiting funds “to establish” a program doesn’t apply to the program already in place. “In accordance with the 2008 omnibus appropriations act, the U.S. Department of Transportation will not establish any new demonstration programs with Mexico,” FMCSA said. “The current cross-border trucking demonstration project – established in September – will continue to operate.”
“She [Peters] has broken the law and defied the will of the American people by exposing them to dangerous trucks from Mexico,” Hoffa said.
The Teamsters’ “Fire Mary Peters – Lawbreaker” campaign includes a website, www.firemarypeters.com, with blog, downloadable “Fire Mary Peters” windshield signs, recommended actions and an e-mail component urging citizens to ask their elected representatives to find Peters in contempt of Congress.
