Senate Floor Speech
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison
July 26, 2001 -- Page: S8272

MRS. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I have been watching the debate intermittently this afternoon on the issue of trucks under the NAFTA agreement. I am really amazed that we are having this debate because I don't think there should be a question at all that we are going to make the safety of our highways the highest priority. I don't think anything in NAFTA says you can't. NAFTA does say that we will agree there is parity among Canada, the United States, and Mexico. There are ways to implement the differences in safety rules through negotiations. But the idea that we would give up the right to control the safety of our highways is a nonstarter.

I think we are very close in agreement on what those safety requirements should be. I think the administration and the Department of Transportation have been sitting at the table with many of us who are debating this issue. I think we are very close in substance with Senator Gramm, Senator McCain, Senator MURRAY, and Senator Shelby. Everyone has been involved in the process. I think we all agree that we have the ability for safe highways, to assure that we have safety on our highways, and that we are going to be evenhanded.

I really think what we are talking about is process. We are really talking about when we come to that determination. Many of us are concerned that if we don't talk about exactly what is going to be the end result, maybe it is not going to come out that way. But I think we have the ability to talk across the aisle.

I am certainly supportive of the stricter definitions that are in the bill. It is certainly better than what the House passed, which abrogates the responsibility under NAFTA.

I do not think we are very far apart. For all the heat that is being generated, I think we are very close to the language in the Murray amendment with the language the Department of Transportation is seeking. I think we are very close to coming to a conclusion. I hope we can agree in due time on that final language, or at least a process to get there. I think we are talking process, even though it seems there is a lot of heat being generated on the issue.

I am going to call up an amendment at the appropriate time, No. 1133, that will assure we have the ability to weigh trucks at a crossing where at least 250 trucks a year go across, where there will be commercial scales available to weigh trucks.

One of the differences between Mexico and the United States is weight limits. There is also a difference between Canada and the United States on this issue.

This is an important issue because, of course, our highways are maintained based on our weight limits. The heavier a truck is, the more wear and tear there is on our highways. So we do need to make sure that we have a system, once we agree on what the weight limits are going to be, to check those weights and assure that everyone is meeting the requirements.

So I am hoping my amendment No. 1133 will be adopted in due course. Senator Domenici is a cosponsor of my amendment. We are two Senators from border States who understand very much the wear and tear on highways. I would also say that the bill that is before us, thanks to Senator Murray and Senator Shelby, has enough money to equip these stations.

Another action that the House took was to wipe out the money that would allow us to inspect these trucks. The House just went into a hole and hid. We cannot do that. The bill before us that has been laid out by the appropriations subcommittee does have good regulations. There should be some changes in the language, but I think we are close to coming to that agreement. And it does have the money for the inspection stations. I want to make sure that included in that agreement also are weigh stations, if there are going to be any number of trucks that go through at any one time.

We have lived with the 20-mile commercial zone in Texas, which has the most border crossings. Texas has 1,200 miles of border of the 2,000-mile border with Mexico. So we do have the most crossings, of course. We have the most highways. We have had a 20-mile commercial zone that was established by NAFTA in the interim period while we were working on these regulations.

There have been some problems within these commercial zones. Many people who live on the border are very concerned about seeing trucks that do not have the clear safety standards that American trucks are required to have. Only 2 of the 27 U.S.-Mexico border crossings are currently properly equipped with infrastructure and manpower to enforce the safety regulations. That is why I have worked so hard with Senator Murray and Senator SHELBY on the committee to restore the President's request for border safety activities.

This bill does have $103 million dedicated to border safety activities. So most certainly, I think we are on the right track to making sure that families who are traveling on American highways are not going to have to worry about substandard trucks from any other country being on that highway.

We agree that we should have agreements with Mexico and that Mexico should be comfortable in that they are not being discriminated against. That is not even a question, although it has certainly been a question in the Senate debate.

I hear from my border constituents. I talk to people in El Paso and Laredo and McAllen and Harlingen. They are the most concerned of all about the trucks they are seeing in this 20-mile commercial zone, where we have Mexican trucks that are legal as NAFTA provided in this early transition time. It is those people who are complaining the most about Mexican trucks that might not meet the same safety standards.

We have had a lot of debate. It is legitimate debate. But I do not think anyone in this Senate Chamber intends to violate NAFTA. I do not think anyone in this Senate Chamber intends for us to have unsafe trucks on American highways. So if we can all agree on those two points, I think it is time for us to come to an agreement on the process.

Let's have strict safety requirements; let's have a process by which we can inspect Mexican trucks, where Mexican authorities can inspect U.S. trucks that want to go into Mexico, and where we can have a certification process that requires that every truck must be inspected; but if it is inspected at a site before it crosses the border, and it gets a sticker, then we will agree that that truck can go through. But we also must have the facilities for those trucks that are not inspected and will not have that certification sticker.

We have to make sure that we provide the money for those inspection stations. This bill has the money. I want to make sure that weighing stations are as much a part of those border safety inspection facilities as are the checks that we would make for brakes, for fatigue, for driver qualifications, for good tires, and all of the other things that we would expect if we had our families in a car going on a freeway. We would hope that we would be safe from encroachment by a truck that did not meet the standards that we have come to expect in our country.

So I hope very much that we can come to a reasonable and expedited conclusion. I think we are all going for the same goal. I think there is no place in this debate for pointing fingers or name-calling. We do not need that. We need good standards, good regulations for the safety of our trucks, and to treat Mexican trucks and United States trucks in a mutually fair way. That is what we are trying to do.

I want to work with all of the parties involved. I think we have a good start in this bill, and I think we will be able to perfect this language in conference. I think everyone has shown the willingness to do that. I hope we can roll up our sleeves and pass what I think is a very good Transportation Appropriations Committee product. I think it is a good bill. It certainly adequately funds the major things that we need to do. With some changes in the Mexican truck language, which the sponsors of the legislation are willing to do, I think we can have a bill that the President will be proud to sign. That is my goal.