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Today: House to Vote on Omnibus That Includes HOS Provision Suspension

The U.S. House has scheduled a Dec. 11 vote on a $1 trillion funding bill that contains a provision that would suspend federal limits on truckers’ weekly work schedules.

By 214 to 212 vote on Dec. 11, the House adopted a procedural rule to proceed with the omnibus spending package. That vote’s slim margin suggests a degree of uncertainty for passing the bill.

The House vote was scheduled for approximately 2 p.m. ET, and there’s opposition from a group of conservative Republicans and Democrats. The vote has been delayed due to a call for recess from the chair.

Funding leaders successfully attached many policy riders to the omnibus, including language that would suspend for the remainder of fiscal 2015 a requirement that drivers take off two consecutive periods of 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. during a 34-hour restart.

The provision, introduced by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) this year, also would require the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to study the rule’s safety benefits, “which shall be subject to an independent peer review by a panel of individuals with relevant medical and scientific expertise."

Rep. Richard Hanna (R-N.Y.), a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, said he was “pleased that my colleagues in both chambers agree that there are legitimate concerns with the 34-hour restart rule. Federal agencies should have an obligation to prove that new rules and regulations do not cause more harm than good — in terms of both safety and costs.”

In this Congress, Hanna introduced legislation that would require FMCSA to conduct an extensive review of its restart rules. The Collins proposal is strongly backed by trucking industry leaders at American Trucking Associations. The federation continues to urge its membership to ask Congress to approve the omnibus.

Enough House members are expected to pass the omnibus package, which would keep federal agencies operating through fiscal 2015. But House passage would afford senators less than a day to clear the measure for President Obama to avoid a shutdown of government agencies. A federal government funding law expires Dec. 11.

On Dec. 10, during a House committee debate on the omnibus, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), said that advancing Collins’ proposal would “make our roads less safe.” Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, added she “wished all of the riders would’ve been dropped” from the omnibus.

The Obama administration, several Democrats and a few consumer protection groups have opposed Collins’ proposal.

The new hours-of-service provision that took effect July 2013 allows truck drivers who reach a maximum 70 hours of driving within a week to resume their work if they account for 34 consecutive hours of rest. That restart period must include at least two nights from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m.

The omnibus also includes a bill that would allow members of multi-employer pension plans to vote to approve cuts in vested benefits suggested by the plan trustees. The proposal is meant to avert potential bailouts by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation.

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