Dems plot floor fight over auto recalls

Two Senate Democrats are fighting to revive a host of regulatory changes for automakers were voted down in committee, adding another potential roadblock for a critical highway spending measure.  

The Senate is expected to begin debate on a transportation funding measure on Tuesday as they scramble to beat a July 31 deadline for the expiration of the nation’s current infrastructure spending.

Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said Monday that they will be trying on the floor to add provisions to boost the safety of cars, trucks and trains to the measure that were rejected by a Republican-led committee.

{mosads}“This week the Senate will consider legislation that makes our roads more dangerous by failing to address loopholes in our nation’s auto safety laws, giving companies a free pass to place profit over safety and human life,” said Blumenthal, who is a member of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. 

“I will fight to ensure that adequate safety provisions are included in the final legislation reviewed by Congress, including truck safety and recall reform to increase safeguards for all who use our transportation systems,” he continued. 

Markey agreed, saying “in the wake of recent preventable auto safety tragedies, we need to drastically increase accountability and prevent history from repeating itself. 

“Instead of accepting this partisan assault on critical safety protections and regulations, we need stronger reporting rules and transparency for the Early Warning Reporting System, increased accountability for automakers and programs that would get more car owners to fix their defective, recalled cars,” he continued. “I will be fighting on the Senate floor for a transportation bill with the strong auto safety reforms that the American people deserve.”

Other lawmakers have threatened to hold up the transportation funding measure because of concerns about Planned Parenthood, and lawmakers in the House have argued against a proposal in the Senate to add language to the measure reinstating the controversial Export-Import bank. 

The Department of Transportation has warned that it will have to cut back on payments to state and local governments for transportation projects that already underway unless Congress reaches an agreement on an infrastructure funding extension. 

Among the changes Blumenthal and Markey will be trying to add to the transportation funding bill is a provision that would allow federal regulators to jail automakers who cover up car defects. 

The proposal, which follows a series of major auto recalls, would make failing to inform federal regulators about faulty auto parts a crime that is punishable by up to five years in prison. It would also eliminate a $35 million cap on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) ability to fine automakers who fail to comply with recall regulations and require the installation of a warning system that will warn drivers when their cars have been recalled by manufacturers. 

Other provisions the Democrats are hoping to roll back include a delay in a mandate for the implementation of an automated rail navigation system known as Positive Train Control that is currently set for December until 2020 and increasing a current 18-year-old age limit for truck drivers.

Safety groups in Washington cheered the Democratic senators for promising to fight for the regulatory changes during the upcoming floor debate.

“The congressional battle is critical because this bill will set the agenda for the next six years for the safety of our cars, our highways and our families,” Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety President Jackie Gillan said. 

“It will either determine whether we stop cover-ups by the auto industry or allow them to manufacture defective cars and parts with near impunity,” she continued. “The bill will either direct NHTSA to move forward on finding and implementing technology solutions to save innocent children from dying in hot cars and prevent fatigued truck drivers from falling asleep at the wheel and plowing into a line of stopped traffic, or just hope these preventable tragedies don’t happen to any of us.”