During these dog days of summer, you're probably sitting by some body of water, be it a pool, pond, lake, or ocean, enjoying your summer before you hit the ground running when you return after a much-deserved vacation. In my world, Inside the Beltway, legislative life almost always screeches to a halt around this time of year. However, this is an election year, so the screech has been louder and more prevalent than in previous years.
Going into this year’s election, we have seen the least productive Congress in our lifetime, enacting a mere 64 public laws within the two-year window in which it has convened. That is not to say that Congress isn’t talking about trucking because they definitely are. However, those talks will almost certainly continue into the next Congress, with a looming highway bill expected to draw attention once again to our elected officials as they seek to replace the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which expires in 2026.
Highlighting the list of topics calling for congressional consideration is truck parking. The lack of safe and secure truck parking spaces has reached epidemic proportions, and our professional driving force ranks this as their number one concern year after year. This will not be remedied by itself; it will take the industry to emphasize the need and obtain legislative support to back the growing trend of freight delivery in this country. Nobody buys milk at a train station. It is always delivered by truck, and with the regulated hours that our drivers must abide by, we must provide more accommodations to allow them to rest.
The plethora of bills introduced this Congress, many of which were also introduced last Congress, will be considered again since that is the path they continue to travel, keeping them at the forefront of trucking discussions. In addition to the inevitable funding for our roads and bridges, proposed language regarding professional truck drivers and their equipment will be center stage. I have alluded to this in a previous column. Still, it will take congressional interaction for the powers that be to understand the challenges that our industry faces regarding a potential transition to zero-emission vehicles.
See also: House funding bills make major trucking policy calls
Faced with the unenviable price tag of nearly $1 trillion, without even including the cost of the equipment itself, the transition will not be cheap, nor will it be quick. The IIJA called for $110 billion in infrastructure investment, which is likely pocket change compared to the investment needed to make this transition, a mountain that Congress must certainly consider when deadlines loom from California and the EPA to move forward with these initiatives.
Ultimately, the hope is that our industry doesn’t miss the opportunity to vet the issues that lie ahead, emphasizing the need for real-world and real-time applications that will benefit the environment rather than the pipe dreams of a deadline that pose more questions than answers.
No matter how the elections shake out in November, the time to advocate is now since this is not a sprint but rather a marathon. Regardless of the election results, we must converse with those who govern. Interacting with the government isn’t easy; it takes all of us to get our message heard. In any year, there will be issues that the industry is divided on, and I can already name a few that have popped up in bills that have been introduced. However, there are also matters that our industry will stand united on that must be heard, such as the transition to zero-emission vehicles.
With that in mind, I must emphasize the TCA Call on Washington program is just around the corner. Coming to D.C. this fall, our Capitol Hill visits help lay the groundwork for industry messaging that real decisions must be made regarding the environment in our nation, acknowledging the shortcomings that currently exist when putting the cart-before-the horse deadlines on mandates destined to fail and defining what a true environmental pathway should look like.
So, when you fold up that beach chair one last time from your summer vacation and look at your fall schedule, circle Sept. 12 on your calendar, and let me know that you want to come to D.C. Bring your walking shoes, and see you there.
