Another try at permitting 33-ft. twin trailers on the federal highway system is included in new legislation that’s otherwise designed to respond to “executive branch overreach” and “recalibrate the Constitutional structure of the federal government.”
“The Article I Consolidated Appropriations Amendments of 2016” (H.R. 4371) was introduced last week by Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) to restore a number of policy riders and “defunds” passed by the House but not included by House-Senate negotiators in the final omnibus spending package that funds the federal government for the current fiscal year.
“By doing our work, House Republicans have laid out a counterbalance to President Obama’s wholesale assault on free markets and individual liberties,” Buck writes to congressional colleagues, asking for support of the legislation. "[H.R. 4371] consolidates some of this work in the hopes of providing each House Republican a solid platform from which to begin the process of reclaiming Congress’ rightful place in our Constitutional government.”
Along with provisions to place a moratorium on any new rules or regulations proposed by the executive branch, defund President Obama’s “illegal executive action” on immigration, and prevent IRS use of funds to implement Obamacare, the bill amends U.S. code by striking language that sets the maximum combination trailer length at 28 feet and replaces that with 33 feet.
Both the House and the Senate initially passed budget amendments allowing the longer “pup” trailers, but the Senate ordered its members on the omnibus conference committee not to approve any such language in the final package.
A group of the nation’s largest LTL carriers and the American Trucking Assns. have lobbied for the twin 33s.
