One of the principles of time management is that you will be more effective if you train yourself to do the first things first. When it comes to establishing effective government programs, we need to keep this lesson in mind.

The federal Department of Transportation is pushing a plan that would allow trucks owned and operated in Mexico to make deliveries anywhere in the continental United States. The theory is that it’s good for commerce and will be more efficient. I’m sure that is true, but I think they are putting our safety at risk.

It seems to me that if we are going to open up our roads to trucks from Mexico that we ought to be sure that those trucks have the same safety standards and inspections as American trucks do. We also need to be able to identify and verify who is in the truck and whether or not they return to their home country.

I believe in commerce, but not at the expense of our safety. Earlier this year the House passed the “Safe American Roads Act of 2007” by an overwhelming 411-3 vote to address our concerns. In addition, I signed a bi-partisan letter with 114 of my colleagues asking the President to delay putting these trucks on our roads until all security concerns are addressed.

Before we allow more trucks into the country, we need to make sure that we’ve done first things first and make sure that we will not compromise our safety or security.

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