Your career. Your choice.
That’s the message ATA sent to Congress last week.
ATA Vice President of Workforce Policy Nathan Mehrens took to Capitol Hill Tuesday to vociferously defend the more than 350,000 independent contractors in trucking whose livelihoods have come under assault from state and federal policymakers.
Testifying before the House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections, Mehrens argued forcefully for Congress to establish a clear framework that provides certainty for hardworking Americans who choose a path of self-employment. That freedom of choice is vital for our industry:
He noted that ICs have been an integral part of the trucking industry since the inception of interstate trucking — and the Biden administration’s radical rewriting of IC classification in January 2024 replaces a straightforward definition with a deliberately confusing one. Put simply, the Biden administration’s independent contractor rule was enacted to fuel frivolous litigation and deny self-employed individuals the freedom to work as they choose.
These shifting labor rules have caused “regulatory whiplash” for ICs who cannot plan or structure their businesses because of continued uncertainty, Mehrens told lawmakers.
Among those whose salient stories may never have come to be as a result of this opaque standard include two independent truckers whose successes as IC truckers Mehrens shared with members of the subcommittee: A Pennsylvania woman who was able to be the caregiver for her family and buy a home as well as a South Sudanese refugee from Minnesota who was able to purchase his own truck after starting as a company driver, calling it “his own American Dream.” He plans to pass his business down to his son one day.
There are countless more examples across the country. Mehrens submitted to the committee a booklet of dozens of personal testimonies from women independent truckers—members of ATA's Women in Motion Council—explaining why this business model is key to their economic freedom.
And if there was one thing to take away from Tuesday’s hearing, it’s that we have allies in Washington who also support the decision to carve out a career on one’s own terms. Take Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), for instance, who noted his own years spent as an independent contractor.
Mehrens and Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI) had a notable back-and-forth about the career flexibility trucking provides and the importance of maintaining that ability to choose:
Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) called his state’s disastrous 2020 AB-5 law limiting the ability to classify workers as independent contractors an “assault on economic freedom” and urged his congressional colleagues to help swing the pendulum back in the favor of workers:
Mehrens endorsed the Modern Worker Empowerment Act, which would codify the independent contractor definition implemented under the first Trump administration. He spoke to the important health and safety protections it provides ICs. The 2024 Biden era rule does quite the opposite.
Hill advocacy is just one prong of our continued efforts to protect independent contractors whose way of life is under attack. We look forward to working with members of Congress and the Trump administration to maintain this essential right to craft a career on your own terms.