Speech #1000020242

Mr. President. today I am reintroducing legislation which will facilitate trade between the United States and Canada by making it possible for busdrivers from Canada to enter the United States on appropriate visas. In past years. there has been a problem with obtaining visas for Canadian citizens who are employed by Greyhound Bus Corp.. and who drive on routes which service points in both Canada and the United States. First one solution and then another have been tried to extend the interpretation of current visa categories to include these busdrivers. However. a strict reading of the immigration law indicates there is no appropriate visa classification for busdrivers who are transporting passengers across international boundaries on regularly scheduled routes. This bill would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to allow busdrivers to come under the same provision of the immigration law that covers commercial airline pilots. and ship captains and crew. Without this legislation. the Greyhound Corp. will be forced to suspend operation of its service between Canada and parts of the Northeastern United States. including New York and Vermont. because it will no longer be able to hire Canadian busdrivers. Not only will Greyhound be unable to use Canadian drivers on these routes. but the Canadian Government will no longer permit American drivers to drive these routes in Canada. The Canadian Government made this decision only after it became clear that no administrative remedy would be possible which would permit the Canadian busdrivers to obtain the necessary visas. As a result. not only will passengers suffer from lack of bus service in the area. but American busdrivers will lose jobs as service is cut back. On the other hand. if Canadian busdrivers can obtain the necessary visas. they would in no way deprive the resident labor of employment opportunities. wages. or good working conditions. because American employees would be permitted to drive Canadian routes. The unions representing the drivers support the legislation. I hope the Senate will act quickly to approve this legislation. so that we can avoid an unnecessary disruption of commercial bus service between Canada and the United States.