| Democrat Cory Booker is waging his first floor fight in the U.S. Senate, taking on colleagues in both parties who want to suspend regulations specifying how much rest truck drivers should get each week. The issue drew attention because of the high-profile crash involving comedian Tracy Morgan on the New Jersey Turnpike this month, but it is also so closely identified with Booker’s predecessor, Sen. Frank Lautenberg, that a safety-advocacy group named a “congressional courage” award after Lautenberg last week. Booker, who filled Lautenberg’s term after he died last year, was also assigned to Lautenberg’s spot on the subcommittee that regulates federal highways and the trucks and buses that use them. It’s natural, he said, for someone coming from such a congested state to make regulating large trucks a priority. “New Jersey sent me down to fight New Jersey’s fight, and this is a New Jersey fight,” Booker said. It’s a fight he may not win, however. The trucking industry spends an average of $5 million on contributions to members of Congress during every two-year campaign cycle — Booker himself got $2,000 — and $10 million more... |
