Barbara Boxer: “I rise in support of the Murray amendment that is pending, as well as the underlying bill. I think Senator Murray…”

“I rise in support of the Murray amendment that is pending, as well as the underlying bill. I think Senator Murray deserves to be commended because she has taken on what is a huge safety issue for the people of our country, and she has done it in a way that has been open and transparent and she has listened. I think with the additional amendment that she has at the desk right now--which really, in a sense, adopts a procedure we are using in California to inspect trucks to give them a decal so we know they are safe--adds immeasurably to her language that is already in the underlying bill. I think the subject of NAFTA trucks is a very big issue because it isn't a theoretical issue anymore. It is a question of whether these trucks are safe. The Commerce Committee just held a hearing on the coming of the NAFTA trucks through the Mexican border. I am a member of the Commerce Committee, and I will tell you right now, from a lot of hearings, I am relieved that the problem I am looking at is actually not as bad as I thought. In this case, I was far from relieved. It is much more worrisome, after having heard the testimony of Cabinet Secretary Mineta and the inspector general of the Department of Transportation. The issue of the safety of what I call the NAFTA trucks is not about free trade, nor is it about protectionism.”