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Mr. LIPINSKI. Mr. Speaker, I
rise today to introduce a bill
that I believe is paramount to
keeping our highways and
byways safe. The Foreign Truck
Safety Act would mandate that
all foreign trucks at our
southern border be inspected
if they have not passed
inspection in the previous
twelve months.
This is necessary because last
week a North American Free
Trade Agreement (NAFTA)
dispute panel ruled that our
southern border with Mexico
should be opened to unfettered
cross-border trucking. The new
Bush administration also
stated they would abide by
that ruling and open the
border.
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This ruling means that Mexican
trucks , trucks that fail 35
percent of inspections across
the border zone, and 50
percent of inspections in
Texas, would be free to roam
all throughout the United
States. Since NAFTA went into
effect in 1994, these trucks
have been able to cross into a
small NAFTA border zone. The
border was scheduled to have
been fully opened in December
1995, but due to real safety
concerns and the high rate of
failed inspections of Mexican
trucks , the border was kept
closed by the Clinton
Administration.
.......
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In addition,
since NAFTA was signed in
1993, Mexico has known that it
would have to harmonize it's
trucking laws and regulations
with the U.S. and Canada
(whose trucks have as good a
safety record as U.S. trucks
), and yet it has failed to do
so. For example, the
Land Transportation Standards
Subcommittee (LTSS) was
created by NAFTA to harmonize
transportation standards and
regulations by the year 2000.
However, even though we are in
2001, Mexico does not have
vehicle maintenance standards,
roadside inspections, safety
rating systems, a drug and
alcohol testing program, or
hours of service regulations.
And Mexico has just started
the process of mandating
logbooks for record keeping,
while the U.S. DOT is in the
process of upgrading logbooks
to electronic record keeping.
Most importantly, Mexico
allows trucks upwards of
100,000 pounds on its
highways, while the U.S. limit
is 80,000 pounds.
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The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America:
Progress
Canada, Mexico and the United States share a continued commitment to
enhance the security, prosperity and quality of life of our
citizens within North America. We recognize that the success
of our countries is enhanced by working cooperatively. The
Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, which
celebrates its first anniversary this month, provides a
framework for us to advance collaboration in areas as
diverse as security, transportation, the environment and
public health.
This Partnership has increased our institutional contacts
to respond to our vision of a stronger, more secure, and
more prosperous region. In June 2005, our three governments
released detailed work-plans identifying key initiatives
that form an ambitious agenda of collaboration. Since June,
we have worked to implement these initiatives. Many will
take months or years to be completed, but we already note
significant results. We ask our Ministers to build on this
momentum.
We have discussed how we can ensure North America is the
most economically dynamic region in the world and a secure
home for our citizens. Today, we exchanged views with
private sector leaders on how to enhance the competitiveness
of North America.
Building on existing commitments, we agree that priority
initiatives warrant special attention in the coming year:
Strengthening Competitiveness in North America.
We are pleased to announce the creation of a North American
Competitiveness Council (NACC). The Council will comprise
members of the private sector from each country and will
provide us recommendations on North American
competitiveness, including, among others, areas such as
automotive and transportation, steel, manufacturing, and
services. The Council will meet annually with security and
prosperity Ministers and will engage with senior government
officials on an ongoing basis.
We are convinced that regulatory cooperation advances the
productivity and competitiveness of our nations and helps to
protect our health, safety and environment. For instance,
cooperation on food safety will help protect the public
while at the same time facilitate the flow of goods. We
affirm our commitment to strengthen regulatory cooperation
in this and other key sectors and to have our central
regulatory agencies complete a trilateral regulatory
cooperation framework by 2007.
North American Emergency Management. A
disaster - whether natural or man-made - in one of our
countries can have consequences across national borders. Our
vision for a North American response, relief and recovery
strategy would ensure that critical equipment, supplies and
personnel can be deployed expeditiously throughout North
America. We commit to develop a common approach to critical
infrastructure protection, coordinated responses to cross
border incidents, and coordinated training and exercises,
with the participation of all levels of government in our
countries.
Avian and Human Pandemic Influenza.
Given the highly integrated nature of our economies, an
outbreak of pathogenic avian flu or human pandemic influenza
in any one of our countries would affect us all. Today, we
have agreed to develop a comprehensive, science-based and
coordinated approach within North America to avian influenza
and human pandemic influenza management. We have endorsed a
set of shared principles to underpin cooperative activities
by our Governments in all stages of avian influenza and
human pandemic influenza management: prevention;
preparedness; response; and recovery. Pursuant to these
principles, officials will develop, as an immediate
priority, incident management protocols to ensure that we
are well prepared in advance of an outbreak in North
America. For instance, we have agreed to work together to
accelerate research, development, production, and
availability of human pandemic influenza vaccines, and
develop a strategy to best facilitate the sharing of
information to enhance the availability of vaccines to the
region. We will also establish a small Coordinating Body of
senior officials to ensure follow-up on these commitments.
North American Energy Security. A
sustainable, secure and affordable supply of energy is key
to fueling the North American economy. Collaboration in the
areas of innovation, energy efficiency, and technology
development, including moving these technologies to market,
promotes energy security. Our governments renew their
commitment to trilateral cooperation on clean energy
technologies, conservation, and market facilitation as a
means to meeting our shared goals of energy security and
sustainable development. Officials will also examine how
this cooperation can be expanded to further our climate
efforts.
North American Smart, Secure Borders.
Our vision is to have a border strategy that results in the
fast, efficient and secure movement of low-risk trade and
travelers to and within North America, while protecting us
from threats including terrorism. In implementing this
strategy, we will encourage innovative risk-based approaches
to improving security and facilitating trade and travel.
These include close coordination on infrastructure
investments and vulnerability assessments, screening and
processing of travelers, baggage and cargo, a single
integrated North American trusted traveler program, and
swift law enforcement responses to threats posed by
criminals or terrorists, including advancing a trilateral
network for the protection of judges and officers.
The Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America
represents a broad and ambitious agenda. We instruct our
Ministers to develop options to strengthen the SPP and
present them next June as part of the second report on
progress of the SPP.
President Fox and President Bush were pleased to accept,
on behalf of their countries, Prime Minister Harper's
invitation to host the next trilateral leaders meeting in
Canada in 2007.
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