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Truckers plan protest Monday over oil prices

Saturday, April 26, 2008

by Tom Dochat

Thousands of people from across the country are planning to rally Monday in Washington, D.C., to protest record oil prices that are ravaging the national economy and running some independent truckers out of business.

"We're going to let them know that, somewhere along the line, they forgot they work for us," said Myerstown, Pa., trucker Mark Kirsch, referring to the protesters' intention to demand a meeting with congressional leaders.

The truckers want to meet with Sen. John McCain, the expected Republican presidential nominee, who has proposed a federal gas tax moratorium for this summer.

They also hope to meet with Sen. Hillary Clinton, who has indicated she might support a temporary moratorium if a windfall-profits tax on oil companies put money back into the highway trust funds.

Sen. Barack Obama has opposed McCain's idea. Obama said it's a bad policy because that tax money is needed to maintain the nation's roads and bridges.

Other observers have said McCain's proposal would not do much to help people while taking away valuable support for highway maintenance.

"It is less a quick fix than an oversimplified play to voter concerns over the rising cost of oil," said a statement released last week by Americans for Transportation Mobility, which represents more than 400 transportation users and providers. "Suspending the fuel surcharge might make a good sound bite, but it is bad public policy."

Clayton Boyce, a spokesman for the American Trucking Association, said his organization is not opposed to the idea, "but we really need to wait and see."

If the federal taxes were suspended, the Highway Trust Fund would need some other revenue source, he said. The trust fund is expected to go broke in 2009, he said. Without continued funding, the nation faces more highway congestion, and "we'll be wasting more fuel," Boyce said.

Kirsch said the tax suspension would be a good start, "but they have to do something else. They have to get those speculators off Wall Street. There's a lot of things that can be done."

Kirsch was in Washington this week completing the permits needed for the protest. He said there's a 90 percent certainty the truckers will get to meet with McCain on Monday.

"We're open to anything at this point," Kirsch said. "I don't have the answers, but I know something has to be done. I'm working real hard to find them."

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