DOT launches Freedom Haulers, widens veteran CDL waivers to two years after service

On July 30, 2026, U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy, with President Trump, Veterans Affairs Secretary Douglas A. Collins and Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling, hosted veterans at the White House to kick off the Freedom Haulers campaign — an interagency push to move separating service members into commercial driving jobs.

The concrete FMCSA change is to the Military Skills Test Waiver: veterans who logged safe heavy-vehicle driving in the service can skip the CDL road-skills test, and the window to claim that waiver after leaving active duty is now two years instead of one. The eligibility bar itself — documented safe military heavy-vehicle experience — is unchanged. DOT says more than 40,000 service members and veterans have used the waiver to date.

Seven states — Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland and Wyoming — committed to join FMCSA's Even Exchange program, which lets qualified veterans whose military training meets state requirements get a CDL without the written knowledge test or the driving test. Trade coverage of the announcement puts total participation at 34 states.

DOT also said active-duty service members can now apply and test for a commercial learner's permit or CDL in the state where they are stationed rather than their state of domicile, and that veterans without military truck-driving experience will be offered expedited CDL training.

These are program and policy changes announced by DOT and FMCSA, not a proposed rule with a comment period.