[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 109 (Friday, September 15, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8635-S8636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS

      Mr. McCAIN (for himself, Mr. Gorton, and Mr. Specter):
   S. 3059. A bill to amend title 49, United States Code, to require 
motor vehicle manufacturers and motor vehicle equipment manufacturers 
to obtain information and maintain records about potential safety 
defects in their foreign products that may affect the safety of 
vehicles and equipment in the United States, and for other purposes; to 
the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation.


     motor vehicle and motor vehicle equipment defect notification 
                            improvement act

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I rise along with several of my colleagues 
to introduce legislation to reform the process used by the National 
Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate and order recalls 
for safety related defects in motor vehicles. We introduce this 
legislation today partly in response to the recall of 14.4 million 
Firestone tires and the 88 deaths and more than 250 injuries associated 
with those tires.
  Over the past two weeks in a series of House and Senate hearings, we 
have begun to learn the details of how the National Highway Traffic 
Safety Administration, Ford Motor Company and Bridgestone/Firestone 
failed to detect and effectively respond to defective tires that were 
killing or causing serious harm to consumers. Based upon the still 
mounting evidence, it is increasingly difficult to believe that neither 
the companies nor NHTSA knew anything of this problem until after this 
summer. Annual claims reports from Firestone show an increase in claims 
associated with the tires subject to the recall beginning in 1996 
through 1999. Ford also received numerous complaints about Firestone 
tires on Explorers in overseas markets. These complaints were 
significant enough to cause Ford to replace tires in 16 foreign 
countries. NHTSA was notified on at least two occasions by State Farm 
Insurance Company that there may be a problem with Firestone tires on 
Ford Explorers. Taken individually each of these incidents may not be 
cause for alarm. But taken collectively it is difficult to believe that 
no one realized this was a problem until a month ago.
  I cite these facts not as evidence of guilt but as an example of the 
problems with the current system. NHTSA has neither the resources, the 
statutory authority nor the internal processes to detect and remedy 
safety related defects in timely fashion. The current system must be 
changed. When manufacturers fail to tell the truth or purposely neglect 
to report safety data, and people lose their lives, severe penalties 
must result.
  It is my hope that in the remaining days of this Congress we can move 
from recrimination to reform. Our attention to ensuring the safety of 
the driving public must not be fleeting. It

[[Page S8636]]

unfortunately has taken the cumulative tragedy of more than 80 lives to 
bring our collective attention to the long overdue task of reforming 
the way we investigate and remedy vehicle defects.
  The proposal we introduce today attempts to make some basic reforms 
to ensure that the current situation does not repeat itself. It would 
authorize the Secretary of Transportation to require manufacturers of 
motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment to report more information 
such as claims data, warrant data, and lawsuits. The bill establishes 
criminal penalties for manufacturers that knowingly sell vehicle with a 
safety-related defect that causes death or serious injury. The measure 
will also increase the current cap on civil penalties to from $900,000 
to $15 million. It provides the Secretary with authority to seek even 
greater penalties in the conduct is willful and intentional.
  I know that some of my colleagues believe this legislation does not 
go far enough and would like to address other motor vehicles safety 
issues or require the reporting of other data. While I share their 
concerns about those important issues, I caution that we must not make 
the perfect the enemy of the good. I want to state openly that this 
proposal is no panacea to the problem, and I am perfectly open to 
making sensible and prudent adjustments. Next week, it is my intention 
to report this bill from the Senate Commerce Committee. I look forward 
to working with my colleagues to address their concerns as we move 
through the process.
  Mr. President, we have an opportunity before we adjourn to enact some 
basic reforms to empower the Department of Transportation to respond 
effectively to safety related defects in the future. I hope we will not 
waste this time and enact these reforms.
                                 ______
                                 
      Mr. WELLSTONE:
  S. 3060. A bill to amend the Hmong Veterans Naturalization Act of 
2000 to extend the applicability of that act to certain former spouses 
of deceased Hmong veterans; to the Committee on the Judiciary.


     technical amendments to the hmong veterans naturalization act

  Mr. WELLSTONE. Mr. President, I am pleased to introduce a technical 
amendment today that, if passed, would ensure that widows and widowers 
of Hmong veterans who died in Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam are also 
covered by the Hmong Veterans Naturalization Act. This critical change 
would allow such widows to take the United States citizenship test with 
a translator.
  Hmong soldiers died at 10 times the rate of American soldiers in the 
Vietnam war. As many as 20,000 Hmong were killed serving our country. 
They left behind families with no means of support. They left their 
loved ones to fend for themselves in a hostile country.
  Twenty-five years later, we cannot give widows back their loved ones, 
though their loved ones gave their lives for us. All we can do is honor 
their service in a way that is long-overdue and give them the tools to 
become citizens in the nation for which they heroically fought, and 
died.
  I want to thank so many of my colleagues who worked so hard to see 
that the Hmong Veterans Naturalization Act pass through Congress and 
become law. Hmong widows should have been included when this 
legislation was first passed and they were not. This amendment simply 
corrects something that should have been done long ago. I urge its 
swift passage.
                                 ______
                                 
      Mr. ASHCROFT:
  S. 3061. A bill to require the President to negotiate an 
international agreement governing the recall by manufacturers of motor 
vehicles and motor vehicle equipment with safety-related defects; to 
the Committee on Foreign Relations.


             international consumer safety information act

  Mr. ASHCROFT. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the 
International Consumer Safety Information Act. As we are all aware, 
there has been a tragic loss of life associated with defects in 
Firestone tires.
  The loss of 88 lives in the United States alone from defects in 
Firestone tires is extremely tragic. The death toll in other countries 
from this U.S. product is reportedly more than 50. Each of these people 
had dreams that will not be realized. There is nothing we can do that 
will ever compensate for the loss of one life.
  However, we have a responsibility to the American people and to 
consumers worldwide to do everything we can to create accountability 
and to ensure that innocent people are not put at such a high risk in 
the future. By quickly alerting consumers about motor vehicle or motor 
vehicle equipment recalls around the globe, we will equip people with 
potentially life-saving information.
  American consumers should be provided with immediate, life-saving 
information on motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment recalls, 
regardless of whether the recall originated in the United States or 
another country. As the chairman of the Consumer Affairs and Foreign 
Commerce Subcommittee, I intend to do what I can on this issue. My 
consumer protection plan would provide consumers--via the Internet--
with more immediate information about recalls of motor vehicles or 
motor vehicle equipment.
  U.S. drivers are just not finding out about the Firestone tire 
defects, but there were tire failures in Venezuela as far back as 1998, 
and in Saudi Arabia, 1999. It is simply unacceptable that American 
officials abroad did not inform the American public. My proposal would 
ensure that this does not happen again.
  Under the legislation I am introducing today, the President would 
negotiate an international agreement requiring foreign countries and 
the United States to maintain an Internet site to inform consumers 
worldwide of recalls of motor vehicle or motor vehicle equipment. My 
bill includes the following key provisions:
  The international agreement would have countries include on an 
Internet site the names of companies that have issued recalls, the 
companies' contact information, the specific products that are being 
recalled, the countries in which the recalls are effective, and the 
date of the recall.
  In addition, the international agreement would set up guidelines for 
a company that initiate a recall of motor vehicle or motor vehicle 
equipment to ensure that they disclose all relevant information to 
consumers and federal authorities in all countries it sells its 
products.
  Finally, the bill would make the Administration accountable for 
disclosing information on foreign recalls by ensuring that Congress is 
notified and by posting the information on an Internet site for the 
public.
  It is my hope that the Senate Commerce Committee will act quickly on 
this measure. At a Commerce Committee hearing this last Tuesday, I 
pointed out another harm that can come from a lack of adequate 
information about recalls.
  Almost half of all Ford Explorers, which was a model that used 
defective Firestone tires, that are assembled in the U.S. are made at a 
plant in Hazelwood, Missouri. I want to visit the workers employed at 
this plant. The plant has been closed the past two weeks and will not 
reopen to assemble the popular Ford Explorer until next Monday. Most of 
the 2,000 workers are not reporting to work and are unsure about their 
future. Their overtime is nonexistence, and due to the 15,000 Explorers 
that will not be produced, their profit-sharing is threatened. However, 
they did not complain about Ford's decision to close the plant in order 
to get tires out to consumers as quickly as possible. In fact, they 
were proud that the company was willing to take such a drastic measure 
to serve their customers. Most importantly, they want us all to realize 
that what we do and what we say up here makes a difference. It makes a 
difference in their lives, and it affects consumer confidence in the 
produce these workers sweat and toil to produce.
  My efforts today are intended to shine light on recalls worldwide. 
Consumers should know if there are recalls in other countries, and the 
Federal government should facilitate this transparency. The bill I am 
introducing today will hopefully ensure that consumers in the U.S.--and 
consumers worldwide--obtain updated information about recalls around 
the globe.




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