Hearing

Witness List:

Opening remarks, as prepared, of Highways and Transit Subcommittee Chairman David Rouzer (R-NC) from hearing, entitled “America Builds: How Trucking Supports American Communities”:

Today’s hearing builds on the Subcommittee’s efforts to examine key issues concerning our nation’s surface transportation programs as we work to develop and enact an on-time, multi-year surface bill. At our previous hearings, we received testimony on the importance of this subcommittee’s programs to the American trucking industry, which has an instrumental role in the safe and efficient movement of goods across the highway system to each of our communities. 

Today’s hearing further examines these programs and their impacts with a specific focus on our motor carriers.

As predominant users of the highway system, truck drivers moved nearly two-thirds of all goods into our communities in 2023 – 12.9 billion freight tons worth an estimated $13.56 trillion. 

In fact, 80 percent of communities across the country depend solely on trucks to receive their goods.  More than likely, every member of this subcommittee represents a community that exclusively relies on trucking to stock their supermarket shelves, refill critical medicines at local pharmacies, and ensure retail stores have merchandise.

In North Carolina, 85.6 percent of communities are dependent on trucking, and the industry supports one in every 15 jobs across the state.  I am grateful to those men and women who, day in and day out, take on the task of delivering for North Carolinians.

The trucking workforce’s commitment to delivering for North Carolinians was on full display last year when Hurricane Helene ripped through our state – devastating communities, wiping out homes, and killing more than 100 people in my state.  In the wake of the storm, truckers across the state and region rallied without hesitation to deliver much needed aid to our friends and neighbors.

The bottom line is that truckers deliver essential goods when disaster strikes and serve as a key partner in larger emergency coordination and relief efforts.  While federal law provides for targeted regulatory relief from certain restrictions, we will continue to explore ways to help improve disaster response outcomes

Despite the importance of trucking to our communities and the supply chain at large, challenges continue to plague the trucking industry and the men and women behind the wheel.

I expect our witnesses today to detail some of the broad challenges the industry faces, including growing and retaining the truck driver workforce; ensuring seamless compliance with federal, state, and local rules and regulations; and addressing rising costs associated with moving goods from point A to point B for both small and large operators.

We have an opportunity in our surface bill to address such challenges in a smart and targeted manner while strengthening local communities and our economy. I look forward to working with my colleagues on the Subcommittee to make it easier for women and men to choose this profession.  In doing so, we must explore ways to make it easier for individuals to train and test for a commercial driver’s license (CDL), as well as build off the Safe Driver Apprenticeship Program established in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) to allow 18- to 20- year-old drivers to cross state lines.

I look forward to hearing your ideas about how best to help the trucking industry continue to safely and efficiently deliver for all of our communities.