Petitions, etc.

Floor Speech

PETITIONS, ETC. -- (House of Representatives - April 01, 2004)

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I will say, though, I am usually in favor of what occurs by State action, but what this amendment does, it allows the State of New Jersey to limit large trucks and twin-trailer combination trucks to the interstate system, not intrastate, the New Jersey Turnpike and the Atlantic City Expressway, except when making local deliveries. It is amazing when you need your donors you allow a twin-trailer truck to arrive at the door but nobody else.

In 1999, the New Jersey DOT actually allowed New Jersey to ban, that is DOT of New Jersey, large trucks from certain roads. However, that was challenged in court by the trucking industry; and if I am correct, just recently, last week of this year, the U.S. District Court from New Jersey ruled that the New Jersey truck highway access regulatory system discriminated against interstate commerce and violated the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution.
This amendment would reverse that decision; and, again, I would suggest that New Jersey use all the recourse through the law. Because to take now a case that has been won by one side of the argument in the court and now us, as a
Congress, to reverse that----

Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey.

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, but the industry or the plaintiff that filed the suit is now being precluded from going forth. If my colleague wants to do that, have the court or New Jersey file an injunction against the court's decision. Do not ask us to undo what a court has ruled.

Mr. HOLT. Mr. Chairman, if the gentleman will continue to yield, this would not preclude the truckers from continuing their suit or the State.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Reclaiming my time, they can continue their suit, but they are not the ones now that have to pursue the suit. They are the ones that won the case, and they can drive their trucks on interstate commerce because of the clause in the interstate commerce clause under the Constitution. What the gentleman is asking us to do in the Congress is to undo what the court has ruled.

I am not a lawyer. Thank God for that. We have got enough of those around here. But I am a little concerned that what we are doing here is really not fair to the persons that filed the suit to begin with. We are saying you cannot do it. You can go back to court. As we go back to court, well, you cannot use the truck. Under the interstate clause, that is against the Constitution, as the court has ruled.

Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I yield 1 minute to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar).

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I rise in opposition to the amendment.

The CHAIRMAN pro tempore. The gentleman from Alaska (Mr. Young) is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I yield such time as he may consume to the gentleman from Minnesota (Mr. Oberstar) who wishes to speak on the amendment.

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I reserve my time.
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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. OBERSTAR. I yield to the gentleman from Alaska.

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I simply wanted to compliment the gentleman and the gentleman from Oregon for their presentations. As I told the gentleman from New Jersey, I did support the concept of this amendment.
I also agree with my ranking member that, as we go through it, we will do it the right way and do it correctly so we can actually solve a serious problem. His story is a very telling story.

So with that, I guess we will have a voice vote; is that correct?

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, I rise in opposition to the amendment.

Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. OBERSTAR. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. I yield to the gentleman from Minnesota.

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Chairman, reclaiming my time, we are going to support the amendment as intended. However, there is a slight, as I think the gentleman from Minnesota mentioned, drafting error, the section that applies to both the current new starts and the new small starts process. We will take the amendment at this time with the gentleman's understanding we want to correct the language in conference so that the exemption applies only to the new small starts process.

Does the gentleman understand that?

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Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Reclaiming my time once again, Mr. Chairman, if he has done that, I apologize. I was talking to my staff and they did not advise me of that. If that has already been done, we do not have to worry about that.
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