EOBRs are IN the final highway bill

And soon to be law of the land. Sigh. So, it turns out that AP / CBS story I linked to was wrong. As Gomer Pyle says, surprise, surprise, surprise. Oh, OOIDA has found a few courageous Congressman to offer an amendment which will prohibt FMCSA from spending money on this EOBR mandate, but that probably won’t pass. Feel free to call your Congressman, and tell them to support the LANDRY-RAHALL amendment to HR 5972, if you still think you have a say in anything. The vote is today, if it hasn’t taken place already.

I will save my bitter rant for later, if at all.

EOBRs are Out?!

This afternoon, the Democrats and Republicans, against the odds, struck a deal on this highway bill. There were no details, of course, as they were busy writing up the hundreds and hundreds of pages of law.

Now, tonight, CBS News is reporting that the EOBR mandate is OUT of the final bill. I am still not sure if the actual bill itself has been written yet…. I have not been able to find it.

According to the article, at the insistence of the House Republicans the odious EOBR mandate was removed. Well, frankly, I am shocked. Once I heard the House GOP had cut a deal with the Democrats, I thought “that’s it, they caved. If big business, the insurance companies, the police, the government, the unions, all want black boxes, then we’re going to have black boxes.” I was even writing a bitter rant about the House GOP in my head at the ballgame tonight, anticipating bitter defeat. The rant was good, too, I’m almost sorry I don’t get to use it. Almost.

If this is true, and that’s a big IF considering CBS is the source, kudos to the House GOP. They actually lived up to their anti-regulation rhetoric. I will wait until I see the actual bill before I really believe it… but I feel much better than I did this afternoon.

EOBR Decision This Week

Well, there have been numerous quotes in the past few days by the politicians… mostly Democrats, that a deal is imminent in this highway bill standoff. If that’s the case, it’s probably bad, because my gut tells me the EOBR mandate will be any compromise bill, despite the House GOP’s pledges to small business. I mean, we really didn’t believe that, did we?

Still, I think there will be no deal. Apparently the House GOP is still demanding the Keystone Pipeline be part of the deal. There is no way the Senate Democrats will agree to that. If they did, they would put the President in a very difficult spot. He has sworn to his enviro-wacko buddies that Keystone will never be approved. So, he’d either have to anger his enviro-wacko buddies by approving the highway bill (and Keystone), or he’d have to anger all these other people eagerly awaiting the $109 billion of taxpayer money. There’s no way the Senate Democrats are going to throw the leader of their party under the bus like that in an election year.

So, I predict the House GOP will demand Keystone, and that will kill the deal. The GOP will blame the Democrats for not wanting jobs, the Democrats will blame the GOP for not wanting jobs, and then we can fight the EOBR battle next year under President Romney. This is my story, and I sticking to it, at least for the next 24 hours.

PS: I actually should post something other than EOBR stuff, but right now I’m kind of bored with the minutia of the safety regulations.

EOBRs in Trouble?

I have been dutifully scouring the Internet for news on this highway bill, which is being debated in a House-Senate conference committee. To recap, the Senate version of the bill mandates EOBRs. Boo. The House version of the bill does not. Yea. Transportation funding expires on June 30, so either they pass this new highway bill which may or may not have the EOBR mandate by then, or they will have to pass another extension of the funding.

I have seen nothing in any news or statements by the politicians as to whether or not the EOBRs will be included in the final version of this bill. However, I did listen to House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s comments at a press conference last week. They did not mention the highway bill. They did, however, talk extensively about jobs, small business, and how regulations are crushing small business. In short, they spelled out one of the arguments as to why the EOBRs are bad, without mentioning the EOBRs.

Granted, this could be all rhetoric and posturing, and when the chips are down, they will go ahead and do the complete opposite of their rhetoric, and mandate the EOBRs. Nevertheless, I found it encouraging that they seemed to care about small business.

Now, just this week, apparently Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is upset because the House members are blocking a compromise. Anytime Harry Reid is upset, it is a good thing. House Majority Leader Cantor has signaled this will not be done by June 30. Could it be done later this year? Maybe.

At this point, I think it is more likely than not that the EOBR mandate will not be passed into law. The House GOP would be crazy to make a deal at this point unless it was completely on their terms. They are winning. They can sit there and demand their Keystone pipeline, or cuts in other areas to pay for the highway spending, or Nancy Pelosi’s parking space, and if they don’t get it, just say, “ok, see you at the polls in November”. This is most likely what they’re going to do….. and there will be no EOBR mandate. This time around.