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US Transportation Department threatens to cut funding for these 3 states - if truck drivers don’t speak English

US Transportation Department threatens to cut funding for these 3 states - if truck drivers don’t speak English

Representative image Photograph: (Reuters)

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Donald Trump's Department of Transportation said it will stop funding California, New Mexico, and Washington if the states don’t comply with a requirement of English language proficiency for all commercial motor vehicle drivers. 

US President Donald Trump's administration has threatened to pull the federal funding to three states over language compliance. The Department of Transportation said on Tuesday (August 26) that it will stop funding California, New Mexico, and Washington if the states don’t comply with a requirement of English language proficiency for all commercial motor vehicle drivers. These states have 30 days to comply with the decision, or the department will hold “up to 100%” of the state’s funding from the Motor Carrier Safety Assistance Program.


The available government data shows that California got over $30 million in federal funding, New Mexico received over $6 million, and Washington received over $9 million.

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“This is a safety issue — making sure drivers of very heavy 80,000-pound rigs can speak the language is truly a critical safety issue,” Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a news conference.


The department said that California has conducted roughly 34,000 inspections that found at least one violation since the new language standards took effect. The standards required the truck drivers to be able to recognise road signs and communicate in English with authorities in the US states.

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This came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the US is pausing the issuance of worker visas for commercial truck drivers with immediate effect. He said that foreign drivers on American roads are "endangering American lives." The decision by the Trump administration comes after an Indian truck driver identified as Harjinder Singh took an illegal turn on Florida's Turnpike about 50 miles (80 kilometres) north of West Palm Beach and killed three people.

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Gulshan Parveen

Passionate about international politics and social issues, Gulshan analyses key global events, from geopolitical conflicts and US politics to international diplomacy and social mov...Read More