Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2018
Floor Speech
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Mr. Chairman, my amendment would delay the implementation and enforcement of the electronic logging device mandate, currently set to go into effect this December 18, until the end of the next fiscal year, September 30, 2018.
But while this amendment is certainly about trucking, truckers, and the businesses and jobs that depend on them, I think it speaks to something more, something that all of us, who have the privilege of serving here in the people's House, are absolutely here to do.
Reducing the regulatory burdens put in motion by previous administrations is one of our most important jobs here in Congress: to encourage entrepreneurship and create jobs in America. This ELD mandate is one such regulation.
I am honored to stand with the independent truckers, our Nation's agriculture producers, and countless small businesses to offer this bipartisan amendment and fight on their behalf. More than 30 associations have endorsed this.
Let's make something clear: my amendment will not ban ELDs, and it will not repeal the mandate from going into effect at a future date. All my amendment does is delay the mandatory requirement that almost every interstate hauling truck will have to pay for and install one of these devices by the end of this year.
For those who have already installed an ELD and are satisfied with it, my message is simple: if you like your ELD, you can keep your ELD.
While it is too late to use the Congressional Review Act on this regulation, it is not too late to act. Passage of this amendment and the underlying bill will set us on the course to protect small businesses and prevent a major disruption to the freight and shipping network just 1 week before this Christmas.
To all of my colleagues on the Appropriations Committee, I say thank you for section 132 of this bill, which already provides relief from the ELD mandate for livestock haulers. Please join me now to give relief to all American truckers.
And to all of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I say another year will give the President time to nominate and confirm a full-time Director of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, allow for waivers and exemptions to be examined and adjudicated, and alleviate the sticker shock for installation and compliance facing small trucking companies this December 18.
We may disagree on many sorts of issues, but we will all go home on the weekend to districts where small businesses are the very backbone of our local communities and our economy. Let's give them a hand. Let's take another year and get this thing right. Mr. Chairman, I urge support for my amendment and the underlying bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. Chairman, I would answer that some of the companies with the worst safety records have had a full slate of ELDs in their fleet for many years. There is evidence absolutely to the contrary of what the gentleman just said.
Also, the Obama administration, who signed this bill into law during a time when the House was Republican and the Senate was Democrat--the Department of Transportation estimates that the cost of compliance for this mandate is over $2 billion. That comes from the previous administration itself.
So I would urge my colleagues to support this amendment and to give relief to the small businesses. Three out of four truckers are in favor of delaying the implementation of this mandate.
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Mr. Chairman, in answer to my colleagues from Arkansas, I appreciate what they are saying. However, the truth is that there is a lot of confusion.
This is a mandate. Many of us came to Congress to roll back these types of mandates and this type of regulatory bureaucracy, which stifles entrepreneurship and the creation of jobs.
We are not trying to do away with this mandate. What we are trying to do is delay it so that we can adjudicate, study, and let people find out exactly how much it will cost because there are some disputes there. If you like your ELD, you can keep your ELD. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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