Things just keep getting more and more interesting with the political tug o’ war over the proposed Hours of Service rules.
This week, Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire offered an amendment to the transportation funding bill that would effectively gut the would-be HOS rewrite. Her moves comes on the heels of efforts by House Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and other GOP leaders to keep the Obama Administration from advancing the tighter rules, which opponents say are unnecessary and would place burdensome costs on the trucking industry.
The senator’s amendment had prompted a plea from U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who urged Ayotte to back off. “In the interest of highway safety, I urge you not to introduce this amendment,” LaHood wrote.
As of this writing, no action has been taken on Ayotte’s amendment. We’ll keep our ringside seat on this one.
In the meantime, have a wonderful weekend!
