It was an eventful week on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., last week, and not just for emphasis placed on a variety of trucking issues before the first meeting of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
Four operators regular readers may well be familiar with were in town as founding council members of a new organization, CDL Drivers Unlimited (CDLDU), a for-profit alliance borne in part out of advocates' frustration with grassroots efforts going back almost a decade. (Membership in the organization is possible now for CDL holders at $15/month or $150/year.)
Generally speaking, the alliance is intended to support and advocate for "the quarterback of the delivery team," the driver, in the words of David Heffernan, one of two Heffernan brothers (Jim is the other) funding the effort and who worked with founding council member drivers to get the group off the ground over the course of the last years.
Any quarterback is supposed to be able to lead the team to the win, as David Heffernan put it. When it comes to advocacy on Capitol Hill, when it comes to back-office support for owner-operators and small fleets, to training certifications, to fuel price discounts and other ways to rein in costs, CDL Drivers Unlimited hopes to build a community to support operators in doing just that.
Two of the founding council members are Lee and Lisa Schmitt, who last year requested an exemption from parts of the hours of service in an effort in part to spur further conversation about the potential for greater flexibility for experienced operators. Lee Schmitt is serving as leader of the CDLDU Driver's Rights committee, and noted the trip to D.C. last week was the organization's initial push toward building on relationships with legislators and regulators.
He calls back to something he and Lisa, among others, were told by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz's office back in 2018. "What he wanted then," Schmitt said, namely a coherent, organized group with an established constituency of CDL drivers: "well here it is, a grassroots group coming together."
The four met with Cruz as just one of a bevy of introductory meetings last week.
