DeFazio Says Congress Should Help Truckers Hit by Fuel Costs

A key Congressman said lawmakers should help the trucking industry cope with diesel prices that have risen 45% in the past year, Bloomberg reported.

Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee’s highways and transit subcommittee, proposed at a Tuesday hearing to require freight brokers to disclose their profits and pass on fuel surcharges they assess to customers, Bloomberg said.

DeFazio said a “huge number” of smaller and independent trucking companies have been pushed out of the business by soaring diesel prices, Bloomberg reported.

But the cause of high diesel prices is the steep rise in crude-oil prices and is not something Congress can control, Deutsche Bank analyst Ryan Todd told the subcommittee, Bloomberg said.