Mexican Trucks Program to Continue, FMCSA Says

Mexican trucks may continue to operate widely in the United States, under the Bush administration’s interpretation of a new transportation spending law, Bloomberg reported Thursday.

“The current cross-border trucking demonstration project, established in September, will continue to operate,” the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration said in a statement.

But under the spending law, the U.S. “will not establish any new demonstration programs with Mexico,” FMCSA said, Bloomberg reported.

The administration contends the law allows as many as 100 companies to go beyond a 25-mile zone inside the U.S. border, in a test program that has been vigorously opposed by Congress and organized labor.

The law, signed by Bush yesterday, says none of the funds may be used “to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program,” but the administration contends that does not apply to the current program, already under way.

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