REP. BRIAN MAST: I want unsafe truckers off our highways — and America's veterans in their seats

One year ago this week, three Floridians senselessly lost their lives on Floridas Turnpike near Fort Pierce due to the complete and utter recklessness of a If you are a foreign national driving a commercial truck in America, you should have to meet the same basic safety requirements as everyone else." truck driver with an illegal CDL license.

Three people died for doing nothing more than simply driving down the highway when a tractor-trailer driver made an illegal U-turn through an access point, cutting across traffic and leaving an approaching minivan with nowhere to go.

Their families will carry that loss for the rest of their lives.

We cannot bring those Americans back. But we can decide who drives on our highways and whether their senseless deaths are going to be another tragedy we forget—or a warning that finally forces us to fix a broken system.

I choose the latter.

America should not lower our standards to accommodate foreign nationals who cannot meet basic commercial-driving requirements. Full stop. Shortsighted state policies and lax federal oversight, like California issuing Non-Domiciled CDLs without rigorous verification of legal work status or language skills, are endangering each and every American citizen.

And this doesnt have to be the case. We have the best trained drivers in the world. American veterans already possess the discipline, training, and experience needed on the road, and I cant think of better training for our commercial trucking industry.

SEC SEAN DUFFY: FREEDOM HAULERS PUTS VETERANS IN THE DRIVERS' SEATS OF NEW CAREERS

That is what President Trumps Freedom Haulers initiative is about, and thats why Im proud to introduce the bill to make it law.

Freedom Haulers recognizes something the rest of the country should have recognized long ago: military experience counts. Veterans have the discipline, precision, accountability and experience that trucking demands. Qualified veterans with military heavy-vehicle experience can use existing federal waivers to avoid redundant road testing and get into the industry faster.

Now Congress needs to make that policy permanent.

That is why I am introducing new Freedom Haulers legislation to codify the program.

TRUMP PROMOTES FREEDOM HAULERS INITIATIVE TO FAST-TRACK MILITARY VETERANS INTO TRUCKING JOBS

It is about getting Americans who served this country into the trucking industry while getting dangerous, unqualified foreign drivers off our roads. The Trump administration has made clear that Freedom Haulers is part of a broader effort to crack down on dangerous foreign drivers, restore integrity to the trucking industry, and give our veterans good-paying jobs here at home.

Thats why, with my bill and President Trumps initiative, we will be creating a program