The Bush administration wants to allow about 100 Mexican trucking companies to drive beyond the border zone. The reciprocal NAFTA provision allowing U.S. truckers to drive throughout Mexico is still being negotiated. However, the scheme hit a speed bump recently, with an amendment tacked on to the recent Iraq spending bill requiring the administration to provide more details and allow for public comment.

And, it was done by Democrats: Byron Dorgan, Dianne Feinstein, and Patty Murray; the Teamsters are opposed to this provision. Now if we could only get them interested in reducing the flow of cheap labor.

While it's certainly good what they did on this, I think a little public shame is in order as to why they've supported the importation of massive amounts of cheap labor from the same country.

"The administration is rushing to open the border to Mexican-domiciled trucks without assuring their safety and enforcement of the law of the U.S.," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen. "They can't go rushing forward in opening the border without having explained what their pilot project is." ...[Dorgan] also criticized the Bush administration for opening the border to Mexican trucks before Mexico opened the border to U.S. trucks. "They were going to implement these plans for Mexican long-haul trucks in a way that was at odds with how the Mexicans were going to treat American truckers," Dorgan said.

Such concern!