Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood sent a letter to Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) shortly after the freshman senator filed paperwork introducing an amendment to keep current hours-of-service rules in place, urging her to drop the motion.

A Senate amendment introduced this week would stop the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration from implementing its plan to revise the federal hours-of-service rule.

Highway safety advocates and the Teamsters union have written to President Obama asking him to “expeditiously more forward” on the new hours of service rule proposed by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

The two senior-ranking House Republican members said the Obama administration should withdraw proposed regulations for truck drivers’ hours-of-service, Bloomberg reported.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman John Mica and three other congressmen have sent a letter to President Obama expressing “concern” over proposed changes to the federal hours-of-service rules governing truck drivers.

CHICAGO — Rand McNally Co. announced the latest integration of its TruckPC and TND 760 Fleet Edition software with McLeod Software’s upgraded LoadMaster Enterprise and Powerbroker Version 10.3 applications.

Governors in 10 states hard hit by Hurricane Irene and Missouri River flooding have temporarily waived hours-of-service rules — and in some cases fuel taxes and special size and weight permits — for trucks hauling relief supplies.

American Trucking Associations has sent a letter to the Office of Management and Budget asking that current truck driver hours-of-service rules remain in place, citing the trucking industry’s strong safety record.

The Virginia Trucking Association recently warned carriers to read the fine print when they agree to participate in federally funded university studies, claiming that researchers used motor carrier data from a 2009 distracted-driving study in a subsequent study to support a pending hours-of-service rule.

These dunderheads in Washington, D.C., need a check-up from the neck up. How about mandating minimum rates coming out of the ports so the drayage operators can afford to buy newer trucks without federal funds? That’s a good way to save a few million dollars on the deficit, don’t you think?