Undoing HOS Restart Suspension Still on Sen. Richard Blumenthal's Radar
WASHINGTON — A leading critic of last year’s push to suspend changes to an hours-of-service rule said he is actively looking at ways to restore the rule.
“We’re continuing to pursue it,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) told Transport Topics on Feb. 10. “We’re talking about what the timeframe should be. Obviously, there are a lot of issues on the agenda.”
Last year, Blumenthal and Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) strongly opposed a successful GOP-led campaign to suspend a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requirement that drivers seeking to restart their weekly clocks take off two consecutive periods of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.
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A provision calling for the rule’s suspension was included in a fiscal 2015 funding bill President Obama signed into law in December. The suspension is scheduled to end when the funding law expires Sept. 30.
The senators, both members of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation panel, voted against the funding measure. They were backed by several groups.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), with the support of American Trucking Associations, led the effort to suspend the recent changes to the restart rule.
