Stand up for the facts!

Our only agenda is to publish the truth so you can be an informed participant in democracy.
We need your help.

More Info

I would like to contribute

Debunking the legend about farm tractors

Will this tractor driver need a commercial drivers license to cross a street? Will this tractor driver need a commercial drivers license to cross a street?

Will this tractor driver need a commercial drivers license to cross a street?

By W. Gardner Selby August 17, 2011

It's the latest outrage about excessive federal regulation: The government, critics say, wants to require farmers to have a commercial drivers license just so they can drive their tractors across a road.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry mentioned it during a speech at an Iowa dinner on Aug. 14, 2011.: "Now you tell me whether this is true or not. But one of my fellas just told me, he said that they're talking about a new regulation that if you drive your tractor ... across one public road, you're going to have to have a commercial driver's license. Get out of here! You're kiddin' me. I mean, what are they thinking?"

The former cotton farmer and Texas agriculture commissioner sounded more certain by the next morning, saying in remarks excerpted on CNN’s Aug. 15 "Newsroom": "Let me give you just a — this is such an obscene, crazy regulation. They want to make — if you are a tractor driver, if you drive your tractor across a public road, you are going to have to have a commercial driver's license. Now, how idiotic is that?"

PolitiFact Texas checked it out and rated Perry's claim False.

 

Sign up for PolitiFact texts

Sign Up For Our Weekly Newsletter

Our Sources

See Truth-O-Meter item.

Browse the Truth-O-Meter

More by W. Gardner Selby

slide 4 to 6 of 15

Debunking the legend about farm tractors