The Bush Administration's plans to allow Mexican trucks into the United States took another blow in Congress yesterday.

The Senate Appropriations Committee approved language in its transportation appropriations bill for fiscal year 2002 requiring that Mexican trucking companies undergo a U.S. safety audit before they are granted authority to operate in this country. This contrasts to the current Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration proposal, which would allow up to 18 months for a Mexican trucking company to undergo such an audit.
In the House version of the appropriations bill, funding for processing Mexican operating authority applications was cut off, which effectively would stop efforts to abide by the long-delayed North American Free Trade Agreement. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it reaches his desk in the House form.
Another big different between the House and Senate versions of the bill: The House stripped the bill of $88 million President Bush had requested to beef up border inspections. The Senate version, on the other hand, authorizes $15 million more than Bush requested. That money will be needed because the bill, with language written by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), would forbid Mexican trucks from traveling beyond the currently allowed commercial zones until the border is staffed with fully trained safety inspectors, a process she estimates could take up to a year. Truck scales would also have to be constructed at all border crossings.
A battle on the Senate floor appears likely.
Transportation Department spokesman Chet Lunner told the Associated Press that while Murray's provision was a step in the right direction from the House language, "We still have a distance to go" before the language is acceptable.
The provision was included in a $60 billion measure financing next year's federal transportation programs.