(Washington, D.C.) –U.S.
Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) included language in the Fiscal Year 2011
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill that
calls on the Administration to put forward a plan that would end retaliatory
tariffs on Washington state agricultural products by October 1, 2010.
The bill passed the THUD subcommittee, which Murray chairs, as well as the full
Appropriations committee, and will now head to the full Senate for
consideration.
“I am extremely
frustrated that the Administration has not yet acted while farmers across my
home state of Washington continue to suffer under Mexico’s retaliatory
tariffs,” said Senator Patty
Murray. “I am urging both the Obama Administration and the Mexican
government to solve this issue and allow Washington state farmers to compete on
a level playing field. Since there has been inaction for too long, I included
specific language in the transportation spending bill giving the Administration
a clear deadline of October 1, 2010 to solve this problem.”
Excerpt from the THUD
report language (full text below):
“It
is essential for the administration to establish a plan to resume cross-border
trucking with Mexico in a way that addresses the safety concerns raised during
the Department of Transportation’s earlier pilot and end the retaliatory
tariffs imposed by the Mexican Government…The Committee directs the Secretary
of Transportation, in coordination with the Ambassador of the United States
Trade Representative, no later than October 1, 2010, to establish and report on
a proposal to implement a cross-border trucking program that maintains the
safety of our roads and highways, enhances the efficient movement of commerce,
and eliminates harmful and retaliatory tariffs on agricultural products.”
On May 28, Murray sent
a letter to President Barack Obama urging him move forward with a plan to
end Mexican tariffs that have had a devastating impact on the Washington state
agricultural industry. Murray sent the letter after President Obama met with
Mexican President Felipe Calderon. During the meeting, the two presidents
discussed the tariffs Mexico has placed on U.S. products. Mexico has targeted
eighty-seven Washington state products in this dispute and hundreds of jobs
have been lost.
Prior to the meeting between President Obama and Mexican President
Calderon, Senator Murray sent a President a letter urging him to use the meeting as an opportunity to
work to end Mexican tariffs that have had a devastating impact on the
Washington state farmers and families. She has also spoken with senior
White House officials to reemphasize that point.
On May 4, Senator
Murray met with the Mexican Ambassador to the United States Arturo Sarukhan
to discuss the impact of Mexican tariffs on Washington state families, jobs,
and agriculture industry. Murray urged the Mexican government to end the
retaliatory tariffs that are harming Washington state families, and to use
Mexican President Felipe Calderon’s upcoming visit to Washington, D.C. as an
opportunity to resolve the differences.
In early March, at a hearing of the Senate Transportation, Housing and
Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee, Senator
Murray pushed Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to move
faster on a plan to resume cross-border trucking with Mexico, urging him to
resolve the situation to save American jobs while ensuring the safety of the
public at large.
And
last October, Senator Murray hosted a meeting between Washington state farmers
and Deputy Secretary of Transportation John Porcari to make sure he understood
the local impact of the retaliatory tariffs.
The
full text of the language Senator Murray included in the THUD appropriation
bill is below:
Administrative
Provision-Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
Section
135 subjects the funds in this act to section 350 of Public Law 107-87 in order
to ensure the safety of all cross-border long haul operations conducted by
Mexican-domiciled commercial carriers.
It
is essential for the administration to establish a plan to resume cross-border
trucking with Mexico in a way that addresses the safety concerns raised during
the Department of Transportation’s earlier pilot and end the retaliatory
tariffs imposed by the Mexican Government. The tariffs were imposed on more
than 90 U.S. products, a burden that undermines the competitiveness of many
agricultural products produced in the United States. If the administration is
unable to find a path forward with Mexico on this issue, these tariffs will
continue to send American jobs to other countries, such as Canada, as growers,
processors, and packers are forced to relocate. Such relocation threatens the
livelihood of many American workers and further exacerbates the economic
recession in communities across the Nation. Continued delays in rectifying this
trade issue are unacceptable. The Committee directs the Secretary of
Transportation, in coordination with the Ambassador of the United States Trade
Representative, no later than October 1, 2010, to establish and report on a
proposal to implement a cross-border trucking program that maintains the safety
of our roads and highways, enhances the efficient movement of commerce, and
eliminates harmful and retaliatory tariffs on agricultural products.
Additionally,
the North American Free Trade Agreement requires that the United States and
Mexico provide operating authority and reciprocal treatment for bus companies
to provide domestic, intercity bus service and cross-border services. Mexico
has refused to grant United States owned bus companies comparable rights in
Mexico, thus making it impossible for United States bus companies to compete
with Mexican bus companies for cross-border traffic. Congress gave the
President or his delegate the statutory authority (49 U.S.C. 13902 ©) to
suspend or restrict the U.S. operations of passenger motor carriers owned by companies
of a contiguous country which unreasonably restricts the operations of
U.S.-owned companies. Since those circumstances exist now, the Committee
believes that the President or his delegate should consider utilizing that
authority unless Mexico immediately starts to provide reciprocal access and
fair treatment to United States owned bus companies. The discrimination against
U.S. bus companies cannot continue. The Committee directs the Secretary of
Transportation, in coordination with the Ambassador of the United States Trade
Representative, to report to the House and Senate Committee on Appropriations
no later than October 1, 2010 on what actions the Department or other executive
agencies are taking to rectify this issue.
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