White House Watching
Oil Prices
The White House announced on September 27 that it is monitoring
US crude oil prices as they approach $50 a barrel, but that
the Strategic Petroleum Reserve will not be used to affect
prices. Press Secretary Scott McClellan told reporters,
"Obviously, it's always something that we keep a close eye
on, in terms of the price. But if you're talking about the
Strategic Petroleum Reserve, that should not be used to
manipulate prices for political purposes. It's for national
emergencies or physical disruptions in the supply."
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The U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate passed
an eight-month extension to the federal highway bill. Signing
of the bill by President Bush avoided a shut-down of federal
agencies that receive their funding from the Highway Trust
Fund. The bill includes ATA-supported language that will
keep the current hours-of-service regulations in effect
until September 30, 2005, or until the Federal Motor Carrier
Safety Administration completes a rulemaking to comply with
a federal court order, whichever comes first. ATA President
and CEO Bill Graves said: "This is a common sense legislative
fix to a scary scenario that could have caused great damage
to the national economy. The trucking industry, which moves
nearly 70 percent of the freight in the U.S., has learned
to work efficiently and safely under the current Hours-of-Service
regulations. With this extension, we now have ample time
for federal regulators to comply with the court. To rush
to judgment and go back to the old rule, as requested by
trucking industry critics, would have immediately eliminated
the critical safety benefits of the current rule. Throwing
out the baby with the bath water was not an option." Because
the extension takes the bill into a new Congress, the process
of reauthorizing the federal highway program will have to
start over again unless a long-term bill passes this year.
For additional information, contact Darrin Roth at 703-838-1900,
droth@trucking.org.
or Dave Osiecki at 703- 838-1853, dosiecki@trucking.org.
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DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has released new, voluntary
security guidelines for haulers of food and agricultural
products during ATA’s Management Conference and Exhibition
in Las Vegas on Tuesday (October 5). The "Guide for Security
Practices in Transporting Agricultural and Food Commodities"
includes a checklist of security measures for companies
that haul agricultural products, and a checklist for drivers.
The Resources Directory has a vulnerability and threat assessment
tool. The guidelines were released during the Agricultural
and Food Transporters Conference education session at the
American Trucking Associations' Management Conference &
Exhibition in Las Vegas. USDA developed the guidelines and
resource directory jointly with ATA'S Agriculutral Food
Transporters Conference. AFTC represents commercial transporters
of agricultural and food commodities, forest products and
minerals. "These guidelines are practical, flexible and
proactive," Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Jim Moseley
said at the conference. "This is the first set of guidelines
that USDA has done that has been voluntary, and it has been
a partnership between the private sector and government,"
said Fletcher Hall, executive director of ATA's Agricultural
& Food Conference. "I think that's significant." The guidelines
developed from the results of an AFTC survey of 24,000 commercial
food and agriculture haulers on their concerns regarding
security, terrorism, and information gathering. For more
information contact Fletcher Hall at 703-838-7999 or fhall@trucking.org.
DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION
Transportation Activity Up 0.4
Percent in July to Highest Reading in 14 Years
An index that measures output in the transportation sector
rebounded in July after slipping two months in a row, reaching
its highest reading in 14 years, the Transportation Department
said October 6. The Transportation Services Index rose 0.4
percent to a reading of 125.5 after slipping 0.1 percent
in June and 0.2 percent in May. The index uses 1996 as a
base of 100. The TSI is an experimental, seasonally adjusted
index that tracks month-to-month changes in the output of
services provided by the for-hire transportation industries,
including railroad, air, truck, inland waterways, pipelines,
and local transit. The data go back to 1990. The latest
increase brings the index to the highest level in the 14-year
period. Comparing July's reading with July of last year,
the TSI was up 7.2 percent. The TSI has two sub-indexes,
measuring freight and passengers. The freight transportation
services index rose 0.3 percent in July to 126.9, also following
two declines in a row. The index was up 6.9 percent from
its July 2003 reading of 118.7. The passenger transportation
services index rose 0.8 percent to 122.7 after edging up
0.1 percent in June. Year-over-year, this index was up 7.8
percent. The July reading for the passenger index was also
a new record high. The TSI for July can be viewed online
at http://www.bts.gov/.
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
2nd Quarter Economic Growth
Revised Upward, Consumer Spending Flat, Incomes Up
The US Gross Domestic Product grew at an upwardly revised
3.3 percent in the second quarter, the Commerce Department
reported on September 29. The main reason for the GDP fall-off
after a 4.1 percent growth rate in the first quarter was
weaker consumer spending, which increased at a 1.6 percent
annual rate. Business inventories grew at a $61 billion
annual rate in the second quarter, compared with $40 billion
in the first three months. Inflation as measured by the
index of personal consumption expenditures, excluding food
and energy, ran at a 1.7 percent annual rate. Personal spending,
meanwhile, remained flat in August, while July's 0.8 percent
figure was revised upward to 1.1 percent according to a
Commerce Department report released on September 30. Personal
income rose 0.4 percent in August, while July's 0.1 percent
figure was revised upward to 0.2 percent. Spending on durable
goods sank 1.6 percent in August, although July's number
was revised upward to 6.2 percent from an originally reported
4.1 percent.
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