Government

ARLINGTON, Va. — Congressional leaders from both parties last week defended Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood after a spokesman for President Obama rebuffed LaHood’s suggestion that the government might use a vehicle miles-traveled tax to finance highways.

Truck engine makers planning to use selective catalytic reduction in 2010 engines lashed out last week against what one executive called “unsubstantiated attacks leveled against SCR” by the one manufacturer that plans to use only exhaust gas recirculation to cut emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides.

Motor carriers, locked in a fight for freight in an imploding market, are taking some business away from rail intermodal with help from lower fuel prices, an industry analyst said.

In response to a proposal to more than double annual registration fees on interstate trucking companies, American Trucking Associations President Bill Graves said the program created to collect and distribute the fees should be abolished.

U.S. consumer confidence declined this month, according to the Reuters/University of Michigan’s monthly consumer sentiment index released Friday.

Manufacturing activity in the Chicago region contracted in February for a fifth straight month, the Institute for Supply Chain Management-Chicago said Friday.

The U.S. economy contracted 6.2% in the fourth quarter of 2008, the largest contraction since 1982, the Commerce Department said Friday in its second of three estimates.

The United States and its trade partners ought not respond to the economic crisis by adopting protectionist measures and restricting free trade, the CEO of UPS Inc. told the Chamber of Commerce Thursday.

American Trucking Associations said Thursday it was unveiling a new trailer for use in its image and outreach programs.

Durable goods orders fell for a sixth straight month in January, the Commerce Department said Thursday.