Transportation Secretary Duffy Holds Press Conference to Give Updates on Freedom Haulers

Hey everybody, Thanks for coming out on this Veterans Day. We just want to first start off by saying thank you to the men and women who have served the greatest country on the face of the earth. It's through their bravery, their sacrifice, their service that so many of us enjoy our freedoms. And as we stand here on the Mall, look at the Capitol which is behind these cameras, it underscores why we have such a great country, which is the men and women who serve. Um... Grateful to be here. I invited Doug Collins, our VA Secretary, but this is kind of... the Super Bowl of the VA uh today and so Doug's out and about but i want to thank him for his partnership on this Freedom Haulers initiative as well as Keith Sonderling from from Labor The three secretaries have all worked together to make sure we could support our veterans to hopefully get into the trucking industry. But most of all, I want to thank President Trump. We had a great event at the White House a few months ago where the president completely leaned in. And so we're all just going to say a few words today, But many of you have covered the stories of... Folks that have gotten commercial driver's licenses that are not qualified, that haven't gone through the proper training, they haven't had the proper testing, and then therefore they have endangered the lives of American citizens, whether it's on the way to church or on the way to Walmart. And for us, our charge from the Congress is safety. And we have worked to take those folks off the road. But at the same time, we realized we do want more drivers. We want more great patriotic drivers. and And it didn't take us long to figure out, well, we have great veterans, the men and women who have the grit and perseverance. and patriotism who have served in our military, many of them getting skills of driving big rigs in the military, well, when they come out, we should make it easier for them to go through the process of getting a commercial driver's license. We shouldn't treat them as we treat every average day American, because they have a different skill set. Let's give them credit for that skill set. and make it easier for them to transition into a profession where they make some great money, they have some great flexibility, and they serve this country. And so we have 42 states that are partnering with us in our Freedom Haulers initiative. We are streamlining the process for our vets to get that commercial driver's license. Takk We have grant money that's going to help a number of schools amongst those 42 states for to help with any additional training our vets may need. But what's been really heartening is that we have American businesses at du that see the value of our veterans. så And see the needs in their companies and they said listen we we actually want your help med. How do we find more vets to come in to to our businesses and take these really critical critically important roles? rolls. How do we sign up more and so the partnership from business to hire more veterans has been fantastic and so On this Veteran's Day, we wanted to remind everybody that we have this great Freedom Haulers initiative where if you're a vet or if you think about getting out of the military and you want to be a commercial truck driver, there is a great profession waiting for you. We are going to do all we can to clear the deck, making sure you're a safe driver, and look at your experience, but get you as quickly and safely as we can behind the wheel. making a great salary for uh for your family and so um we're excited to be here we're excited about this initiative um a lot that's happened almost everything that's happened at uh federal motor carriers fmcsa has come from our great administrator derek bars former state patrol who has grasped this section of DOT and just run with it, driving safety, making sure we have the right drivers with the right skills on American roads. And by the way, I'll just say this for a second, it's gotten a lot of attention. You wouldn't think that truck driving and licensing and how the system works is complicated. oh my god it is it i thought aviation was hard truck driving and fixing these systems is challenging and derek has done a wonderful job and so i'm grateful for his service i want to turn the microphone over to him right now jerk bars well thank you all very much for being here today and uh thank you mr secretary for for being here and supporting the initiative of freedom haulers uh before i get started really i want to thank the men and women that are behind me and the ones flanking me to my left and the different associations that are here representing american trucking association elida the american bus association uh uma i just really really appreciate and tca for their work that they've done and the american truck drivers and veterans that are standing behind me so i want to make sure we give them a round of applause and thank them for what they do every single day for this country. You know, we talk about the sacrifices that they have made in the service, whatever branch that happens to be. And when they get out of the military, they want to continue to serve. And they have different characteristics that they've learned in the military that translates into trucking. And these individuals behind me, and like Mr. Brown here is going to speak in just a few minutes, they have done that for years and years to make our roadways safer. And so we need more of that. We need more of those individuals who want to get behind the wheel and do the right thing. And so we can root out the garbage that has been infiltrating into the trucking industry. And these individuals like this, and bringing individuals in, people that have served our country, they can help us do that. And so... I think about this being from a personal standpoint. I want to thank my father, who served in the United States Navy, and then my son, who is currently serving in the United States Army, and who also holds the CDL. And how we prepare those men and women that are serving alongside him today, and what are they going to do when they leave. Are they going to be the next motor coach operator? We have a bunch of them over here to my left that are going to be servicing this great country. Or are they going to be over-the-road truck drivers like the ones that are behind me? And we need to make sure that we're making it easier for them to be able to do that, and that's what Freedom Haulers does. And we want to continue to work with them, so anyone who's out there listening, freedomhaulers.dot.gov, go there. And we will continue to support the men and women who actually want to do it right, and making trucking what we all depend on. There's not one thing in this country that we do not have, the things that we need from manufacturing, things that are in our grocery stores, things in building aviation, that do not come in on a truck. and so we need to thank them not just today not just on veterans day and also during truck driver appreciation week we should be doing that every single day for the men and women that are doing it safely and that's what we're here to do at fmcsa and our great team that we have so i want to turn over to Mr. Bobby Brown who is a Schneider driver, I want to thank him for his service and I look forward to hearing from you sir, thank you good afternoon, happy Veterans Day, so my name is This is Bobby Brown. I served in the U.S. Army for eight and a half years. When I got out, I started to work with Schneider. I've been here with the company for 35 years, and it's given me a great opportunity after I left the military. Let's see, when I first left the Army, I knew I wanted a career that would give me a sense of purpose and responsibility, and I came across an ad for Schneider that was in the military Army Times magazine. And I decided to apply for them, and they was the first one that came back with me, replied back. And what I quickly learned is that the skills that we developed in Army transportation naturally came back as far as driving with the company. It just took me a little bit of a while to get used to coming from a military truck to a civilian truck. It was a couple of days worth of training until I got back in the groove. And transportation responsibility matters when we get behind the wheel that we're responsible for doing our job safely, serving our customers, looking out for the people, sharing the road with us. Safety is our core values, and it's one of the reasons I've stayed with Schneider for more than three decades. Over that time, I've earned 3 million miles, plus I'm also a member of the Hall of Fame in Schneider. Schneider values military experience because veterans understand the service, professionalism, mission, accomplishment, and today nearly 24% of Schneider associates are from the military, which speaks strongly to the connection between the military service and success in transportation. Schneider also actively helps service members transitioning from civilian careers to military apprenticeships in the CDL training program. Veterans can build on their skills they developed while serving, turning them into rewarding careers in transportation and logistics. There are a wide variety of driving goals with Schneider to match the career and lifestyle as they choose. A driver can transition into roles like trainers, operational support, maintenance techs, and office personnel. In fact, our president and CEO, Jim Filter, who was a Marine Corps vet, started a maintenance shop. Fellow veterans who are considering what their next military, after their military service, I can encourage you to safely take a look at transportation. Thank And the industry needs people who can lead, solve problems, adapt to challenges, take ownership of a mission. you and those things that veterans do every day. for I'm grateful for my service in the Army. watching! Thanks for the opportunities that Schneider has given me, and a proud part of the industry that helps keep America rolling. I'd like to say thanks to all the veterans, and happy Veterans Day. Good afternoon, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Administrator, on behalf of the Truckload Carriers Association, it's an honor to be here with you today, to join you to help celebrate our veterans in the trucking industry and their freedom haulers. And if I may, at this time I'd like to recognize the men and women behind me and the companies that they are working for at this time, if I could. Of course, you just met Bobby from Schneider, AJ from Order Enterprises, Daryl and Mary Lou from J.B. Hunt. travis and robert from maverick don from us usa truck and james from knight swift can you please give those folks a round of applause when i think of the traits or words to describe uh the men and women that have have served in our military uh some of the things that come straight to mind of course are bravery and courage but other traits other terms that come to mind are our discipline mission sacrifice and hard work and those of you who have been around professional drivers, you know that Hard work and commitment and sacrifice are no strangers to truck drivers. And then you throw in the discipline and the leadership that they gain from the military, and you have an excellent truck driver. It's a well-known fact in the trucking industry that veterans make excellent truck drivers, and that's why the motor carriers and the truck load carriers and other associations and other trucking companies around the country, they compete. They compete for veterans to be their truck drivers, and they trust them to haul their freight safely across the country. And so it's no great surprise that veterans make up a good part of our industry. I was talking to my friend Louis Pugh from OOIDA today. He said 40% of their members are veterans. 40% of the owner, operator, independent drivers are veterans of the United States of America military. That's a huge number. So on behalf of the TCA, I would like to thank President Trump and his administration for all the support they've given the veterans and all the support they've given our industry. In the last couple of years, they have done magnificent things for our industry. I'd like to thank Secretary Duffy and Administrator Barsfall. They have done not just with the Freedom Haulers, but all they have done to help improve our industry. They mentioned some of the bad actors in our industry, and they are doing a wonderful job of help cleaning that up, and the men and women behind us are doing that as well. Last, I'd like to thank all of our veterans, not just those that drive our trucks, but all veterans of the United States. We appreciate you, and we not only thank you for what you have done, but what you continue to do, not only for our industry, but for our country, and you have our deepest gratitude. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen. Our motto here is, our fraudsters are out. Our patriotic veteran Americans are in. So on this Veterans Day, if you're looking for a new career path and you're a veteran, we are going to work with you to streamline this approach to transition you into a great paying a great lifestyle job of being a trucker. And I think the message is very clear. Like you said, you said it, Derek, that if you look at all the goods that we consume on a daily basis, they probably got to where they are. by a truck and a thank you to a truck driver so it's a huge part of our economy uh so we want to make sure on this Veterans Day we remind the veterans uh that we are open for business and we're looking for you to come in and work with us um and with that uh happy Veterans Day and god God bless. We'll get a picture in a second.