adminWhen Washington finally stopped playing games and started enforcing the rules, Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy did what too many in the federal government have been afraid to do: he pulled more than $40 million in federal safety funding from California for refusing to enforce English language proficiency standards for big-rig drivers. This was not a petty budget spat — it was a commonsense safety measure to protect American families on the highway, and Duffy made clear he won’t let activist governors put politics over public safety.
The Department’s investigation found California had roughly 34,000 roadside inspections with only one English-proficiency out-of-service finding, and even allowed drivers with prior violations in other states to keep rolling through California unchecked. That litany of failures shows a state more interested in ideological cover than in enforcing federal safety rules that keep truckers accountable and roads safer.
This crackdown did not come out of nowhere — it followed a deadly highway crash in Florida that exposed the human cost of lax enforcement, a tragedy conservatives have warned could happen when rules are ignored. The driver involved, who had a California-issued commercial license, was at the center of scrutiny that highlighted how dangerous it is to allow drivers who cannot communicate in English or who have irregular immigration statuses to pilot multi-ton rigs on our interstates.
Beyond withholding money, the DOT under Duffy has launched an audit of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses and taken emergency action to restrict improperly issued CDLs, even threatening an additional nearly $160 million in highway funds if California doesn’t comply. That’s not political theater — it’s federal authority being used to restore order and common-sense safety standards to an industry that moves America’s goods.
Predictably, California’s political class pushed back by pointing to their lower-than-average crash statistics, but statistics mean nothing if the system allows dangerous loopholes and lets drivers slip through the cracks. Governor Gavin Newsom’s reflexive defense of California’s status quo shows once again that liberal sanctuary policy and performative progressivism come before the safety of ordinary Americans.
Hardworking Americans want safe roads and accountable officials, not platitudes and political cover-ups. Secretary Duffy’s actions send a clear message to every state and every regulator: enforce the law, protect the public, and stop turning a blind eye to policies that endanger lives. If Washington means to secure our borders and our highways, this is exactly the kind of tough, principled leadership we should be demanding.
