On the recordJune 27, 2012
I am honored to join my distinguished colleagues, Ranking Member Rahall, Mr. Huizenga, Mr. Tom Graves, and Ms. Herrera Beutler, on this amendment. Our bipartisan amendment prohibits any funds under this act to be used to implement any administration mandate for global positioning systems, electronic onboard recorders, or event data recording devices on both passenger and commercial vehicles. Madam Chairman, the Department of Transportation has become obsessed with electronically monitoring vehicle movements. Right now, the DOT is working on a mandate which would require that every car have a device which is very similar to an airplane's black box. Additionally, they are working on another mandate which would require that trucks carry an electronic onboard recorder. Even the name sounds scary. These devices would record and transmit data when the truck is in use. This regulation is so costly that even President Obama has singled it out as a regulation which needs more study. He did so because it is estimated that the mandate will cost the trucking industry at least $1 billion to implement. Madam Chairman, the truckers in my district cannot afford this cost. I know some companies like these devices. That's great. They can put them in their trucks voluntarily. However, just because a few companies like the devices, we should not mandate that everyone use them. For this reason, I hope the House will adopt this commonsense amendment. I yield back the balance of my time.
