People defending the status quo say these drivers have always been here. Shannon Everett of American Truckers United tells guest host Robert McNeily that is not true. The loophole opened in 2019, when the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration changed its guidance so a driver holding only an employment authorization document, the work card issued to anyone who applies for asylum while awaiting a hearing, could apply for a commercial driver's license. Those cards were meant for lawn care and roofing, not for a licensed, safety-critical job. The program expanded around 2021 and ran for three or four years before the industry discovered the crisis in the fall of 2024.
Secretary Sean Duffy's rule closed that door: it specifies which work visas qualify, and it is what Delilah's Law, H.R. 5688, would write into statute. But the rule did not revoke the licenses issued during the window, and it did not require those drivers to be recertified. Delilah's Law does. Every driver licensed through the loophole would have twelve months to come back and requalify under the new standard or lose the credential. That, Everett says, is why the bill cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in March and stalled: industry accepted no more of these drivers, but it did not want to give up the ones it already had.
In this clip:
• Why this is a new problem, not a decades-old one
• The 2019 guidance change and employment authorization cards
• The explosion after 2021 and the discovery in fall 2024
• What Secretary Duffy's rule fixed, and what it left on the road
• Recertification within twelve months
• Why Delilah's Law stalled after committee
Read H.R. 5688, Delilah's Law, and call 202-224-3121 to ask your representative when it gets a floor vote. Watch the full episode at jennybethshow.com and learn more at teapartypatriots.org.
00:00 — Not an old problem: the loophole opened in 2019
00:25 — The crisis started in 2021 and was discovered in fall 2024
01:08 — What Delilah's Law codifies: Secretary Duffy's rule
01:44 — Employment authorization cards and asylum applicants
02:29 — Duffy closed the door but did not revoke the licenses
02:55 — Recertify within twelve months
03:27 — Why the bill stalled: industry wants the drivers kept
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