Sen. Cory Booker on House T-HUD Bill: ‘Relaxing Safety Regulations is Unacceptable’
WASHINGTON — Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) said he was disappointed House appropriators last week advanced a fiscal 2016 transportation funding bill with a provision that would keep a suspension of certain mandatory rest periods for truckers.
“It’s obviously something that I’m flatly against, and we’re going to work to make sure that driver safety is put before whatever other motivations people have by proposing some rules that will ultimately allow fatigued drivers on the roads,” Booker told Transport Topics on May 5. “With an increase in injuries due to truck accidents in our highways, the fact that we will be relaxing safety regulations is unacceptable.”
Booker, the top Democrat on the Commerce subcommittee that oversees truck safety policy, has indicated he intends to restore the suspended Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration hours-of-service restart rule. The suspension was included in a fiscal 2015 funding bill signed into law in December. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute is conducting a congressionally mandated review of the 34-hour restart restrictions.
Last week, a House appropriations transportation subcommittee approved a funding bill that included a provision that would delay enforcement of the 34-hour restart rule. The rule’s suspension is backed by many trucking industry leaders.
