House Dems Take Republicans To Task Over NHTSA Report

Cameron Aubernon
by Cameron Aubernon

In the wake of a report written by Republican members of the United States House of Representatives regarding the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration inability to find and link evidence regarding General Motors’ involvement in the design and implementation of an ignition switch now linked to 54 accidents and 19 fatalities, two Democrat members took the report’s authors to task.

The Detroit News reports Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Diana DeGette of Colorado, both members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee whose Republican majority penned the report, proclaim the report ignores GM’s role in the problems leading up to the February 2014 recall crisis that saw 2.6 million vehicles recalled in one go, placing the blame squarely upon the automaker’s shoulders.

The duo also laid criticism upon Republicans in both houses of Congress for not moving faster on legislation meant to prevent disasters like the one experienced by GM:

There is still time to improve auto safety in this country and to demand more from both car companies and regulators. Republicans should act quickly to pass legislation that solves the auto safety problems they identified in their report.

Meanwhile, Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, who had planned to bring automotive safety legislation up for consideration back in July, said he wasn’t decided on the matter. He explained that while Congress would continue to look for answers and build toward solving them, the “NHTSA was part of the problem and is going to have to be part of the solution.”

Cameron Aubernon
Cameron Aubernon

Seattle-based writer, blogger, and photographer for many a publication. Born in Louisville. Raised in Kansas. Where I lay my head is home.

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  • Walleyeman57 Walleyeman57 on Sep 18, 2014

    Since our government spent billions bailing out both GM and the UAW should we be shocked that they cater to them? Had this been Toyota, after the first 3 reports of failures, there would have been news conferences and press releases. Instead we wait 5 years. Remember the whipping Toyota took for its customers not installing the correct floor mats and not knowing how to shut off their cars? Of course GM is at fault for attempting to sweep this under the rug. They had LOTS of help from the Feds.

  • Carguy Carguy on Sep 18, 2014

    The GM recall fiasco is GMs fault. How intrusive do you want the NHTSAs oversight of car makers to be?

    • Landcrusher Landcrusher on Sep 18, 2014

      If we are going to spend money to have an investigation, we ought to expect them to connect the dots. They didn't, so what are we paying them for? And what if they had? What benefit? We found out anyway. Relook at the agency and cut the bits that we really don't need. If they whine they needed more money, the first to get the axe should be the whiner.

  • Roader Roader on Sep 18, 2014

    Looking at NHTSA's 2015 budget I see an $815 million top line including $93 million for salaries & benefits for 637 full time equivalent employees. $93 million / 637 employees = $146,000 per employee. Not bad for gummint work. There's a reason why 4 out of 5 of the richest counties in the US - by median household income - are around DC. The single county outside of the Beltway is Los Alamos, where the federal gummint employs half the people in the county.

  • Rnc Rnc on Sep 19, 2014

    "If you don't eat your beets you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your beets?"

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