The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“MOTOR CARRIER FUEL COST EQUITY ACT OF 2001” mentioning the U.S. Dept. of Energy was published in the Extensions of Remarks section on pages E1099 on June 13, 2001.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
MOTOR CARRIER FUEL COST EQUITY ACT OF 2001
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HON. NICK J. RAHALL II
of west virginia
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, June 13, 2001
Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to introduce the bi-partisan
``Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2001'' with my colleagues Mr. Blunt of Missouri, Mr. Mollohan of West Virginia, Mr. Ney of Ohio, Mr. Peterson of Minnesota, Mr. Strickland of Ohio, Mr. Lipinski of Illinois and Ms. Brown of Florida.
In the 106th Congress, the House passed this bill by suspension of the rules on October 10, 2000 because Members recognized the hardship small business truckers suffer when they must pay for price spikes in the cost of diesel fuel. However, the bill was received in the Senate the next day and no further action was taken. Today, my colleagues and I re-introduce this bill with the hope that it will be enacted into law. Our goal is to ease the financial burden on small business truckers who need relief from diesel fuel price spikes.
Small business truckers are the Owner-Operators, approximately 350,000 men and women throughout the United States who own, operate and maintain their own 18-wheelers for their livelihood. They comprise about 67 percent of our nation's trucking force. They pay for their own diesel fuel, taxes, highway tolls and permits. These men and women do not work for the large trucking companies which negotiate long term fuel contracts and can defray part of the cost of skyrocketing fuel prices. Unlike the large trucking companies, the Owner-Operators are at the mercy of diesel fuel price spikes. They simply do not have the market clout to negotiate fuel contracts.
In the last 18 months, the price of diesel fuel has risen more than fifty cents a gallon over the 1999 levels. While the price spikes have hurt the entire trucking industry, no one is hurt like the little guy. Fuel is the single biggest operating cost of a small business trucker and accounts for up to one-third of their budget. According to an analyst with A.G. Edwards, almost 200,000 trucks have been repossessed since January of 2000 because small business truckers could not make ends meet.
In the third quarter of 2000 over 1,350 companies owning five trucks or less went bankrupt. This is nearly double the record set in the previous quarter. The price of diesel fuel prices was the primary factor in causing these bankruptcies. Just-in-time deliveries are being threatened, fewer transportation alternatives for shippers are available and consumers could face a rise in the price of various goods and commodities resulting in a national economic downturn.
The ``Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2001'' gives a safety net of relief to owner-operators, shippers and consumers by ensuring that a fuel surcharge will be assessed at times of diesel fuel price spikes. Under terms of a surcharge, a shipper pays to the trucking companies the difference between what is deemed to be a baseline cost of diesel fuel and the sudden, dramatic increases in the cost of that fuel. The legislation provides that the fuel surcharge must be itemized on the freight bill or invoice to trucking customers. The fuel surcharge arrangement will be enforced solely by the parties themselves through private action. The federal government will have no regulatory or enforcement authority.
The bill will not abrogate existing fuel surcharge arrangements. Customers who already pay a fuel surcharge will not be affected by this legislation. Nothing in the bill will prevent parties in the future from establishing a fuel surcharge agreement that is different from this pending legislation. All past, current and future privately negotiated fuel surcharge agreements are fully respected.
In calculating a diesel fuel surcharge, pricing will be based on the National Average Diesel Fuel Index which is published by the Energy Information Administration of the United States Department of Energy. Whenever fuel costs return to normal levels, the surcharge will no longer be applied.
America watched the economies of Britain and France thrown into chaos on the issue of diesel fuel prices. A lack of relief from diesel fuel prices is a formula for disaster in the making, considering the large number of bankruptcies we have recently witnessed in the United States.
The essential feature of the Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2001 is that it provides a private right of action as a means to ensure that the entity which actually pays for the fuel receives the surcharge. No Federal Government enforcement. No cost to the taxpayers. Just simply equity and fairness.
High diesel fuel prices have also had a devastating effect on our nation's port drivers. Their poor working conditions have come to the attention of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which is involved in an ongoing effort to organize port truck drivers and to bring national attention to their plight.
It is time that we go to bat for the little guy, the small businessperson, and for the integrity of our economy by enacting the Motor Carrier Fuel Cost Equity Act of 2001.
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