Author: Congressman Darrell Issa

Western HiWays trucking company
headquarters sits among the oil derricks and citrus groves just off Highway 65
in Bakersfield, CA.  Its 13 drivers haul
everything from fresh produce to new cars, giving life to the industry adage,
"If you bought it, a truck brought it." 
The health of American trucking, which itself supports
about 7 million jobs, is closely tied to the health of our national
economy.  In fact, roughly 70 percent
of all goods in the United States move by truck. As part of the
AmericanJobCreators.com initiative to expose the true scope and costs of
federal regulations, we visited Western HiWays Safety & Human Resources Director
Doug Grove and Operations Manager Kelly Grove.

The federal government regulates
commercial motor vehicles (CMVs) to ensure the safety of both the truck driver
and the general public sharing the road.  Almost everything on or in a typical long-haul
truck – which runs about $120,000 each – has a
corresponding federal regulation administered by the Department of
Transportation’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, including special licensing, training, and equipping
rules to account for the unique safety challenges of trucking.

The White House announced a host of initiatives designed to
save American businesses $10 billion over five years. The target for
the savings? Overly burdensome federal government regulations, which
cost small business owners as much as $10,500 per employee. The news
is welcome for job creators struggling to survive in the Obama
Economy, and shows that months of House Republican efforts to shine a
light on these job killers are yielding gains for American families
and businesses.