ICYMI: Congresswoman Tenney, Colleagues Ask Biden to End Cross-Border Vaccination Requirements for Truck Drivers
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-22) last Friday joined a letter led by Congressman Rick Crawford (AR-01) asking President Biden to end vaccination requirements between the U.S. and Canada. Canada’s vaccination and testing requirements expired earlier this month, but the U.S. requirements are still in effect with no indication of removal, despite President Biden’s claim on national television that “the pandemic is over.”
Several essential commodities are imported into the U.S. from Canada, including fertilizer, oats, propane, and chemicals. President Biden’s vaccine requirement puts more strain on our supply chain by hindering the trucking industry’s ability to move these essential goods quickly.
In part, the lawmakers wrote, “The trucking industry is already suffering immense labor shortages, especially for drivers, which is raising costs on consumers and limiting the supply of nutrients, food, energy, chemicals, and other major products. Combined with a looming threat of a rail worker strike, we must look to alleviate any outstanding restrictions for our commercial truck drivers to further incentivize not only their return to work, but for onboarding new drivers as well."
The letter also notes that the threat of COVID-19 continues to diminish while our commitment to a strong partnership with Canada remains.
“Open trade and cross-border supply chain mobility between the highly integrated American and Canadian agricultural sector is critical to our bilateral relationship. At this point in time, there is hardly any legitimate reason for cross-border vaccination requirements to persist for our nation’s truckers. We are two and a half years removed from the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and one and a half years removed from civilian access to COVID-19 vaccines, not to mention over a year removed from available booster shots. COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths have steadily declined for months. It is far past time we join Canada and the rest of the world in fully reopening our economy,” the members concluded.
The full text of the letter is available here.
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