WASHINGTON -- Rep. Norman Y. Mineta, Ranking Democratic Member of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said today that the decision by the House Republican leadership rejecting an amendment to the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (H.R. 5) offered this afternoon threatens to undo the economic deregulation of transportation services enacted by congresses and presidents during the last 15 years.

Mineta offered the amendment, which would prohibit states from re-regulating those transportation-related industries which the Federal Government has deregulated. Mineta, speaking during debate on the House floor, noted that the version of H.R. 5 before the Senate does not make the same mistake.

"In the last 15 years, we have largely deregulated the airlines, pipelines, trucking and railroads. We have dramatically reduced the intrusiveness of government into the marketplace, and in every instance we have concluded that we wanted to achieve was deregulation - not a substitution of state regulation for Federal regulation," Mineta said.

"Deregulation means getting government out of the issue. It does not mean closing the Civil Aeronautics Board only to substitute 50 state CABs. H.R. 5 not only makes it more difficult to tell states what they have to do, it also makes it more difficult to tell states what they cannot do - including that they cannot regulate industries we have just deregulated," Mineta continued.

"Let me give a specific example. Last August we brought to the floor legislation which very substantially deregulated the economic regulation of the trucking industry. This bill would have been considered an unfunded mandate under H.R. 5 because it told the states that they could not regulate those industries. None of us considers that an unfunded mandate, but H.R. 5 does," Mineta concluded.

The Mineta amendment was not accepted by the House Republican leadership. He will work for its inclusion in House-Senate conference on H.R. 5