Babin delivers speech imploring Trump to delay ‘colossal’ ELD mandate

Rep. Brian Babin, who has championed a delay of the electronic logging mandate, took to the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives early Thursday morning, calling on President Donald Trump to delay the mandate.

He attacked the $2 billion Obama-era regulation aggressively, that “shamefully remains on the books” and again asked Trump to delay the mandate with an executive order ahead of the Monday, Dec. 18, deadline.

The following is Babin’s full speech.

“Millions of American Truck Drivers helped elect President Trump last November, and I am calling on him to step in and give them a hand.“President Obama left office back in January, but a $2 billion dollar regulation he wrote in 2015 to require an electronic tracking device in every truck in America is still scheduled to go into effect this Monday.

“Let me repeat that: an Obama regulation that shamefully remains on the books is going into effect this Mondayunder a Republican Congress and White House.

“The DOT can give a 90-day waiver for all truckers from this mandate, and proved it by issuing several waivers for specific industries, including one just this week. Instead of offering fairness and relief, they are picking winners and losers.

“Millions of American truckers are asking 24/7 for relief from this mandate using the hashtag #ELDorMe – but it has fallen on deaf ears at DOT.

“Mr. President, you call the shots in your administration. Please issue an executive order today and instruct DOT to give all truckers relief from this mandate for three months. Don’t implement this colossal, Obama-era mandate just a week before Christmas.”