{
  "id": 19193066,
  "title": "What trucking can still get from a lame-duck Congress before Jan. 3",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/09/what-trucking-can-still-get-from-a-lame-duck-congress-before-jan-3",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-09T17:48:45.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "FreightWaves",
    "slug": "freightwaves",
    "url": "https://www.freightwaves.com/news/what-trucking-can-still-get-from-a-lame-duck-congress-before-jan-3"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The 119th Congress will expire on January 3, 2027. Bills that haven't passed both chambers and reached the president by then die, and the next Congress starts anew with new bill numbers, committee chairs, and calculations. After Tuesday, this calculation has changed. Democrats now control both the House and the Senate, with Rep. Rick Larsen expected to chair the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and Sen. Maria Cantwell likely to chair the Senate Commerce Committee, overseeing FMCSA on the Senate side. A few trucking bills introduced in previous Congresses have a chance to become law. Three have actually passed, while 69 never made it past committee. 69 bills did not advance from committee. The biggest transportation enforcement change in this 60-day window, mandating DOT to treat an English proficiency check failure as an out-of-service violation, came from a clause in the spending law that ended the shutdown in February, not from any of the 79 trucking bills. This highlights the reality that standalone trucking bills typically don't move forward in Congress. The only vehicle left in this Congress is funding for the government and the federal highway program, which runs out on December 11. Truckload Carriers Association President Jim Mullen anticipates lawmakers will pass a clean highway extension into June and leave the comprehensive highway bill for the next Congress. The BUILD America 250 Act, H.R. 8870, cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in May but has not reached the floor. It allocates $750 million over five years for truck parking, prohibits predatory lease-purchase programs, requires a disclosure form showing the number of drivers who actually own their trucks, targets chameleon carriers, and establishes a rulemaking committee on minimum knowledge requirements for new carriers. It will expire on January 3. Efforts to raise the $750,000 minimum insurance requirement were removed from the current bill, and Mullen expects them to be reinstated under a Democratic chairman. Dalilah's Law, H.R. 5688, passed the House on March 18 but has yet to receive a Senate hearing. It will die on January 3 and will not resurface in its current form. Larsen called the English proficiency section redundant in March, and Democrats objected that the non-domiciled limits could exclude DACA recipients from driving. Mullen anticipates the next highway bill handling non-domiciled drivers differently, possibly allowing DACA recipients to keep their credentials. Outside of trucking-specific bills, the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act, H.R. 2853, has the best chance of passing. It passed the House in May but has been stalled in the Senate Judiciary Committee. The act creates a federal coordination center to combat organized cargo theft and doesn't mandate equipment or influence CDL eligibility. It has bipartisan support and could be the freight-related bill to pass before January. The remaining list of bills is unlikely to advance. The Motor Carrier Safety Selection Standard Act, H.R. 5337, national standard for vetting a carrier before assigning freight, has been in committee for two consecutive Congresses. Despite the Supreme Court's decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II, which sent negligent selection claims to juries, the bill continues to die in committee. The Truck Parking Safety Improvement Act will also expire, though its funding will continue in the highway bill. Other trucking-specific bills, such as chameleon carrier bills, under-21 bills, the predatory leasing bill, and various CDL fraud bills, have not received a markup. Among the 40 trucking bills tracked during this session, only two, Dalilah's Law and the BUILD America 250 Act, have been voted out of committee. Unless they are carried over to the December bill, all of the others will expire on January 3.",
  "summary": "Every bill in Congress has an expiration date. For the 119th Congress, it’s noon on Jan. 3, 2027. Anything that hasn’t passed both chambers and reached the president by then dies, and the next Congress starts over with new bill numbers, new committee chairs and new math. After Tuesday, that math changed. Democrats won control […] The post What trucking can still get from a lame-duck Congress…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "CBS News",
        "title": "Congress returns for lame-duck sprint after GOP midterm losses",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/09/congress-returns-for-lame-duck-sprint-after-gop-midterm-losses",
        "published": "2026-11-09T13:51:53.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}