Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Colorado's Republican, CDL-holding senator, has introduced a bill that would provide grant money to train fellow Native Americans as truck drivers.

The Bill, S1344, notes that Native Americans suffer higher rates of unemployment, poverty and other social ills than other groups in the United States, and that the trucking industry will need to hire more drivers over the coming years as the amount of freight carried by trucks increases.
Two tribally controlled community colleges, one in California and one in Montana, currently offer commercial truck driving programs. The bill would allow the Secretary of Labor to award four grants to tribally controlled colleges or universities to establish truck driver training programs. Priority would be given to grant applications that propose training that exceeds the U.S. Department of Transportation's proposed minimum standards for training tractor-trailer drivers and those that propose training that exceeds entry-level truck driver certification standards set by the Professional Truck Driver Institute.
"Based on my personal experience, the truck driving industry has something unique to offer Indian communities: a well-paying profession," Campbell told the Congressional Quarterly.
Campbell put himself through college driving a truck, and got his CDL in 1999.