By a 21-9 vote, the Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment introduced by Senator Susan Collins of Maine at the behest of ATA as well as the federation and HOS coalition partners that would suspend two provisions that limit the use of the 34-hour restart.
The provisions, limiting drivers to one restart per week and requiring the restart include two periods of rest between 1am and 5am, have caused unjustified harm to the trucking industry and to drivers but their impacts were not fully studied by FMCSA prior to issuing the rule.
The amendment to the annual funding bill for the Departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development in committee is the first step in the process. The bill now goes to the Senate floor, where once passed it must be reconciled with a similar bill in the House. ATA will continue to press for the amendment’s inclusion in the final bill that will fund DOT for the 2015 Fiscal Year.
Today’s success is one important step in the process, but it would not have been possible without the hard work of many ATA members, Federation partners, and ATA professional staff who reached out to many, many Senators on the industry’s behalf.
To read ATA’s press release on the amendment’s passage, click here.
