Rep. Wolf Vows To Pursue Shift

Rep. Frank Wolf will not give up his campaign to move jurisdiction over trucking’s most important federal agency, the Office of Motor Carriers, to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

t a Capitol Hill press conference Oct. 21, the Virginia Republican vowed to resurrect the idea next year.

“OMC has not been doing a good job,” he asserted.

“Trucking accidents, fatalities and fatality rates have been increasing at an alarming rate.”

r. Wolf, chairman of the House subcommittee on transportation appropriations, said he will hold hearings on highway and truck safety and on how transferring the office to NHTSA “could enhance the mission of OMC.”

He called for an investigation to determine the adequacy and effectiveness of current levels of truck inspections and carrier compliance reviews.

“There is growing concern that trucks are dangerous,” Mr. Wolf said, although he acknowledged that “many in the trucking industry work hard to maintain safe trucks.”

Mr. Wolf, who represents a district near Washington, D.C., that features clogged commuter roads and one of the busiest truck lanes in the country, surprised many colleagues when he tried to insert a provision in the 1999 surface transportation appropriations bill to transfer OMC to NHTSA.

Jack Shenendorf, chief of staff for the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said Mr. Wolf’s ploy violated House rules because the proposal represented a policy change, not a funding issue.

“If it was so important, why didn’t he come to our committee?” Mr. Shenendorf asked. “We had extensive hearings on TEA-21 (the highway funding act) and this was never raised. It was not the subject of any hearings.”

Mr. Wolf said he was motivated by recent reports on fatal truck accidents and “wanted to deal with this as quick as possible.”

Ironically, as chairman of the panel in charge of federal dollars for transportation, Mr. Wolf has consistently opposed the practice of earmarking money for members’ pet projects as “immoral,” according to the Almanac of American Politics.

American Trucking Associations lobbied fiercely to keep OMC in the Federal Highway Administration, arguing that moving the prime government contact for trucking safety did not make sense.

“Highway safety is too important to treat in an arbitrary and capricious way,” said Walter B. McCormick Jr., president of ATA. “NHTSA is an engineering agency. It sets design standards. It is not a highway enforcement agency.

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