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Committee debates lifting interstate restriction for commercial drivers under 21
Summary
Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discussed whether federal rules that limit interstate travel for commercial drivers under 21 are unnecessarily constraining the workforce, citing a low‑participation pilot program that sunsets this November and calls to reintroduce the DRIVE SAFE Act.
Members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee discussed whether federal limits on commercial driver’s licenses for people under 21 are creating unnecessary barriers for the trucking workforce, with witnesses and the committee chair pointing to a pilot program that expires this November.
The chair of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee raised the issue of regulatory barriers and asked whether evidence shows that a safe 20‑year‑old driver “shouldn't be able to cross state lines, and have that CDL be effective?”
Mister Dellinger, a witness, said most states already allow under‑21 drivers to hold commercial driver’s licenses. “Well, as you mentioned, 49 states do recognize and draw state driving for under 21,” he said, and added that the recent federal pilot program was flawed, got a late start and attracted few carriers. “That program sunsets in November this year,” he said.
Dellinger said the pilot’s low participation weakened its usefulness as a template for permanent policy. “I think it allowed for 3,000. I think it was, maybe 3 dozen, in the program,” he said, speaking to the committee’s interest in a longer‑term solution. He recommended legislative action, saying the DRIVE SAFE Act “may need to be reintroduced and looked at as well.”
Committee members framed the issue as a workforce and operations problem. The chair noted that drivers can travel hundreds of miles within a single state but are blocked from short trips across state lines in adjacent communities, saying, “But they can't go from North Sioux City, South Dakota to Sioux City, Iowa, just a few miles. It doesn't really make any sense.”
Witnesses and members described the topic as one that could increase recruitment into trucking careers if federal rules allowed consistent interstate operation for younger, properly trained drivers. No formal vote or committee action was recorded in the transcript segment; the discussion centered on whether Congress should pursue a permanent change rather than rely on temporary pilots.
The committee did not record a formal decision during this discussion. Members and the witness urged reconsideration of federal policy and possible reintroduction of the DRIVE SAFE Act; next steps were not specified in the transcript.
