Roy Blunt: “I certainly am appreciative that the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall) saw this problem and drafted legislation…”

“I certainly am appreciative that the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall) saw this problem and drafted legislation, and I was glad to join him as one of the early cosponsors of this bill, H.R. 4441. This Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act is a bill that is really designed to bring temporary emergency relief to an industry that, maybe more than any other industry in the country, has been caught in a devastating situation by these rapid increases in fuel prices. This is an industry where the cost of fuel is everything, and it is an industry where so many trucks are operated by the people who own those trucks. Their entire livelihood is dependent on what happens in that truck that month. Their entire livelihood is dependent on what the repair costs of the trucks are, what the fuel costs, what the tire costs are. Many of these owner-operators, I see them in my district, are husband-and-wife driving teams, sometimes with a child that is not ready for school yet riding right along with them and seeing the country.”