Brian Mast Introduces Bill to Fast-Track Veterans, Bar Unqualified 80,000-Pound Truck Drivers
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 12
Brian Mast Introduces Bill to Fast-Track Veterans, Bar Unqualified 80,000-Pound Truck Drivers
1 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 12
Summary
Rep. Brian Mast introduced legislation to make the Freedom Haulers program permanent, letting veterans with qualifying military driving experience skip the CDL knowledge test and move into trucking faster.
The bill is framed as a response to a Fort Pierce, Florida, crash a year ago that killed 3 people after a tractor-trailer driver with an illegal CDL made an illegal U-turn.
Mast said the driver had entered the U.S. illegally, scored 2 out of 12 on an English proficiency test, and still received a California non-domiciled commercial license despite lacking work authorization.
The proposal pairs veteran hiring with stricter enforcement: commercial drivers must meet English, skills-testing and legal-authorization requirements or be removed from the road.
The measure aligns with the Trump administration’s broader push to tighten oversight of foreign commercial drivers while steering more veterans into trucking jobs.