It was not a stand-alone bill. It was essentially an all-encompassing appropriations bill for the Housing, Transportation, and related agencies. This vote was simply for an amendment to the larger bill.
The Repubs had their own amendment (The Cornyn amendment). Their apparent intention was to reject the dem's amendment and adopt the repubs amendment.
The dem's amendment would deny the entry of Mexican trucks beyond the commercial border zone of the United States on the belief that the trucks participating in this program would not meet the same safety standards as U.S. trucks and, therefore, would be unfit for U.S. roads.
The repubs amendment sought to relieve the dem's (union's) fear that the trucks are unsafe. The amendment sought to do this by limiting the amount of trucks, requiring a strict application process, meet all DOT standards, US Federal inspection pass before application approved, 3-month interval tests, border inspections.
The bottom line is, those people who fear that Mexican trucks will not be held to the same safety standards as U.S. trucks in America are incorrect. They will receive the two inspections in Mexico, another inspection at the border, and the potential for an inspection anywhere else on the highways, just as American trucks. Those inspections are performed by U.S. inspectors.
The Dems, uh, Unions, are solely concerned about protectionism... about limiting competition. They are scared that Mexicans can do it better. And they can! It is much more efficient and much cheaper for American consumers to allow these Mexican trucks to travel in the United States. The alternative, and status quo is to offload the cargo in Mexico, reload it onto an American truck, and then have it come into the United States. This is a very lengthy, time-consuming, and costly process.
Moreover, this repub amendment will allow US trucks to enter Mexico too. So, if you are concerned about losing jobs, the US trucks can go to Mexico and pick up the goods and bring them to the US too... thereby keeping the money in-house. If the US transportation companies cannot compete with the mexicans on price, then our capitalist nation and efficient market suggests that the US companies should lose that job then.
(I recognize this is an unpopular stance on this board).
