Kevin Roberts: “I would like to associate myself with the comments made by my colleague from Minnesota and urge my colleagues to vote in…”

“I would like to associate myself with the comments made by my colleague from Minnesota and urge my colleagues to vote in favor of Amendment No. 1617, the Klobuchar, Roberts, Ben Nelson, McCaskill, Johanns, and Lugar amendment to clarify Hours of Service--HOS--exemption for Ag transportation. The Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act expressly states: Regulations prescribed by the Secretary regarding maximum driving and on-duty time for drivers used by motor carriers shall not apply during planting and harvest periods, as determined by each State, to drivers transporting agricultural commodities or farm supplies for agricultural purposes in a State if such transportation is limited to an area within a 100 air mile radius from the source of the commodities or the distribution point for the farm supplies. We believe this statute alone, not to mention clear Congressional intent demonstrated in previous sessions, clearly allows the transportation of all farm supplies from any distribution point to a local farm retailer or to the ultimate consumer--in other words, from source to retail, source to farm, and retail to farm. Unfortunately, in 2009 the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration--FMCSA--began to misinterpret both the statute and Congressional intent. Currently, FMCSA only allows for the transportation of a single farm supply--anhydrous ammonia--from any distribution point to a local farm retailer or to the ultimate consumer.…”