Rep. James Oberstar, D-Minn., introduced a resolution calling on President Bush to keep the U.S. border closed to Mexican trucks and buses until the administration can certify that Mexican operations are safe.

Oberstar, who was supported by a bipartisan group of representatives, as well as the Teamsters union and safety activists, yesterday said his resolution would restrict Mexican vehicles to the border commercial zones until an effective enforcement program is in place.
He acknowledged that the Department of Transportation has proposed rules to control safety on the border and plans to add enforcement personnel and inspection facilities. But, he said, a complete safety system is not yet in place and is not likely to be ready by the end of the year.
Under the North American Free Trade Agreement, the border was supposed to have been opened gradually starting in 1995. The Clinton administration, under pressure from labor unions, reneged on that deal. Mexico complained, and won a decision from a NAFTA review panel that the U.S. was in the wrong.
The review panel said that the U.S. can be subject to severe monetary penalties unless it opens the border. In meetings earlier this year, President Bush and Mexican President Vicente Fox agreed on a timetable to open the border by the end of the year.
Oberstar acknowledged that his resolution could cause the United States to break that deadline, and could trigger penalties as high as $1 billion. His take on that risk was that Mexico has more to gain from trade than from resorting to fines.
One co-sponsor of the Oberstar resolution, Rep. Robert Borski of Pennsylvania, was more direct. "If we have to be fined, then we should be fined," he said.
Borski, one of several Representatives who recently returned from a tour of the border, said that California has a "pretty good" enforcement system. But at Laredo, Texas, the heaviest crossing point on the border, "the inspection process virtually does not exist."
Texas intends to build eight new inspection facilities, he noted, but added that it will take 18 months to finish the first of these. "If there is a fatal accident, the public will be outraged."
Oberstar stressed that his resolution is not aimed against Mexico, or against NAFTA. He said he does not object to the border being opened, but only wants the opening to be safe.
But Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., made the issue more personal. "If President Bush allows unsafe trucks driven by unsafe workers, there will be blood on the highways and the blood will be on his hands."
Oberstar predicted that the resolution will pass "handily." He said he wants the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to hold hearings on the issue soon.