Senate Expected to Vote on Mexican Truck Program Today

Vote Follows Reports of Mexican Truck Explosion That Killed 34 People, Injured 150

Teamsters General President Jim Hoffa urged the Senate to block funding for the Bush administration's illegal Mexican truck program.

Hoffa said the program threatens highway safety and national security. The danger posed by trucks from Mexico was made clear by the truck explosion that killed at least 34 people and injured 150 in Northern Mexico on Sunday.

A vote to block funding for the pilot program is expected to occur in the Senate on the afternoon of Tuesday, Sept. 11.

"Today is the sixth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil," Hoffa said. "I don't see how any patriotic American could vote to allow these dangerous trucks to cross our borders and travel freely throughout our country."

"We don't know who's driving these trucks and we don't know what they're carrying," Hoffa said. "Weapons that could be used in a terrorist attack might be in the backs of these trucks."