Rep Louise M Slaughter (D-NY), chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, has responded to an announcement from the United States Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service that it is delaying the implementation date of its new border user fees requirement from March 1, 2007, until June 1, 2007.
“I'm glad that the Department of Agriculture is starting to see the need to rethink this initiative,” Slaughter said. “I've opposed the blanket imposition of new fees and new inspections on all trucks entering the United States from Canada since it was proposed last fall. It is a heavy-handed response to a narrow problem, and would increase congestion at the Peace Bridge and Leighton Bridge. I encourage the Department of Agriculture to allow a joint US-Canada working group to develop workable solutions rather than moving forward with this flawed idea.”
A 2005 report by the Ontario Chamber of Commerce revealed that the United States loses $4.13 billion a year, or $471,000 an hour, due to border congestion. The report said that America also stands to lose more than 17,000 jobs by 2020, and 91,000 jobs by 2030 if no corrective action is taken.
