Bubba is Safer Than Hector

Xenophobe - A person unduly fearful or contemptuous of that which is foreign, especially of strangers or foreign peoples.

Well, we finally did it...Democrats and Republicans have come together on an issue. What could they all agree on? That Xenophobia is the basis for any sound economic policy.

The debate was over whether to fulfill our obligations in the North American Free Trade Agreement which required open access between the three Countries involved (US, Mexico, and Canada) to their Nation's truckers. During the debate over an amendment by Byron Dorgan to prevent implementation of this portion of our treaty, John Cornyn offered a helpful timeline to explain the issue:

Of course, in 1993, the North American Free Trade Agreement, NAFTA, was adopted. But, relevant to this amendment, it had the requirement that signatory countries--in other words, Canada, Mexico, and the United States--are to give each other access to each other's long-haul commercial trucks. There was initially a refusal to enact the provision with regard to Mexican trucks, and in 1995 Mexican trucks were to have been given full access to four U.S. border States.

In 2000, under NAFTA, this 1993 treaty obligation, Mexican trucks would have been given full access throughout the United States.

In 2001, this matter was taken to a NAFTA arbitration panel, which ruled that the United States is in violation of its commitments under NAFTA and must open up its highways to Mexican trucks.

In 2001, Congress passes the 2002 Department of Transportation appropriations bill, which set 22 safety-related preconditions for opening the border to long-haul Mexican trucks.

In 2002, the Secretary of Transportation, Norman Mineta, announced that all of the preconditions--those 22 safety preconditions--had been met and directed the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to act on the Mexican application.

In 2003, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals delayed implementation of this provision. But then, in June of 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Ninth Circuit and ruled that Mexican trucks could operate in the United States pursuant to the 1993 NAFTA treaty.

In 2007, the administration announced a pilot project to grant Mexican trucks from 100 transportation companies full access to U.S. highways.

In May 2007, the Iraq war supplemental mandates that any pilot program to give Mexican trucks access beyond the border region cannot begin until U.S. trucks have similar access to Mexico and requires a report of the Office of the IG.

In September 2007, the Office of the IG issued its report. The next day, the administration issued its first permit to enter the United States under the program.

While the Democrats like Dorgan were giving excuses about "safety of the trucks," the truth is this issue is being fought on two fronts. First, good old fashioned hatred of Mexicans. Second, the Unions oppose it, therefore the Democrat party opposes it.

John Cornyn, a man whom I agree with close to never, offered an amendment requiring that Mexican trucks be inspected for safety once every three months, just to assuage the fears that these trucks somehow aren't safer; the amendment was defeated 29-69.

Just one more example of the US welshing on a treaty with people of Native American heritage.