President Trump delivered a major win for American workers and highway safety earlier this spring: mandating that commercial truck drivers must understand English to drive big rigs across America. This is one common sense accomplishment that even Trump’s Republican predecessor, George W. Bush, refused to do.
Bill Clinton opened wide our southern border to Mexican truckers to carrying long loads deep into the U.S., all without knowing English. Not only did this steal jobs from Americans and create havoc at checkpoints, but it also resulted in horrific highway accidents that Phyllis Schlafly wrote about two decades ago when she urged Bush to repeal Clinton’s extension of commercial licenses to non-English-speaking truckers. (Bush failed to act!) In the split-second decisions on congested highways, if drivers of 18-wheelers can’t read what they see or communicate with other drives around them, we’re in for a world of hurt.
In April, however, Trump signed an Executive Order stating that truck drivers “should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers. Drivers need to provide feedback to their employers and customers and receive related directions in English.”
“Every day, truckers perform the demanding and dangerous work of transporting the Nation’s goods to businesses, customers, and communities safely, reliably, and efficiently,” Trump stated. You may remember that in March Trump made English our official language, as far as the federal government is concerned. This is a huge win which many Republicans failed to do for decades.
Of course the liberals don’t like all this news about English as our official language, but workers and their representatives know better. Todd Spencer, president of 150,000-trucker-strong Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, immediately applauded Trump’s Executive Order. Spencer summed it up: “Basic English skills are essential for reading critical road signs, understanding emergency instructions, and interacting with law enforcement.” Like it or not, English is our official operating language, and that’s a good thing.
This post originally appeared at https://phyllisschlafly.com/national-sovereignty/america-first/trump-steps-on-the-gas-pedal-for-english-2/
