Veterans can skip CDL skills test with military driving experience
The Trump administration on Friday launched a campaign to recruit military veterans into the trucking industry, offering them expedited pathways to commercial driver’s licenses as part of an effort to replace tens of thousands of immigrant drivers who lost their credentials in a federal enforcement push this year, according to the Associated Press.
A new campaign, which the White House plans to formally announce Monday as part of a broader interagency effort to connect veterans with civilian jobs, will promote existing programs that let veterans who recently drove large military vehicles skip the required skills test for a commercial driver’s license. Other soldiers can attend a commercial driving school during their last six months of active duty.
The GI Bill will pay for 100% of commercial driver’s license training costs, and for some recipients it will pay a housing allowance while they are in school.
The Transportation Department began enforcing existing English-language requirements for truckers last summer, the AP reported. Concerns about truck driver qualifications took on more urgency after an August crash in Florida, when a truck driver performed an illegal U-turn that killed three people. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that driver, who is from India, “should never have been licensed in the first place.”