After President Obama signed an appropriations bill this week that cuts off funding for a controversial cross-border trucking program with Meixco, the Obama administration has said that it wants to come up with an alternative approach to cross-border trucking.


The omnibus spending bill withdraws funds for a demonstration program in which a limited number of U.S. and Mexican carriers were permitted to engage in cross-border long-distance trucking.

The program had been viewed by the Bush administration as a way to prove the effectiveness of a safety management system devised by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, as a prelude to fully opening the border.

Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the crossing was supposed to have been opened to border-state traffic in 1995 and to long-distance traffic in 2000. The opening was stalled until 2007, in part by difficult negotiations with Mexico, but mainly by the legislative and legal tactics of U.S. labor, owner-operator and citizen advocacy groups who fear loss of U.S. jobs to Mexican drivers and argue that Mexican trucks will not be safe.

The Department of Transportation, in a statement, said that Congress has opposed the project "because of concerns about the process that led to (its) establishment and operation.

"The administration recognizes these concerns," DOT said in its statement. "The president has tasked the Department of Transportation to work with the U.S. Trade Representative and the Department of State along with leaders in Congress and Mexican officials to propose legislation creating a new trucking project that will meet the legitimate concerns of Congress and our NAFTA commitments."

DOT also said that Sen. Bryon Dorgan, D-N.D., the sponsor of the funding cut-off provision and the principal antagonist of the Bush administration in this matter, has said he is willing to work with the new administration to come up with an alternative.