[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 126 (Wednesday, October 11, 2000)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10229-S10232]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 TRANSPORTATION RECALL ENHANCEMENT ACCOUNTABILITY AND DOCUMENTATION ACT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, in just a few minutes I will propound a 
unanimous consent request concerning the

[[Page S10230]]

Transportation Recall Enhancement, Accountability, and Documentation 
Act. First, I ask unanimous consent that a letter I just received from 
the Secretary of Transportation be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                              The Secretary of Transportation,

                                 Washington, DC, October 11, 2000.
     Hon. John McCain,
     Chairman, Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, 
         U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: As you know, the House acted early today 
     to pass H.R. 5164, the Transportation Recall Enhancement, 
     Accountability, and Documentation (TREAD) Act. This is 
     another important step toward resolving issues raised by the 
     National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) 
     ongoing Firestone tire investigation.
       We strongly support enactment of H.R. 5164. The bill 
     provides increased penalties for safety defects and 
     noncompliances in motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment; 
     lengthens the period for free remedy of defects and 
     noncompliances; enhances the ability of NHTSA to obtain 
     information from foreign as well as domestic sources; and 
     authorizes increased appropriations to enable NHTSA to carry 
     out its additional responsibilities. These provisions were 
     sought by the Administration in its proposed legislation. 
     H.R. 5164 also directs NHTSA to review and report on its 
     procedures for opening defect investigations, a review which 
     the agency has already begun, and directs NHTSA to conduct 
     rulemaking to amend the safety standards on tires, an action 
     which is consistent with the agency's rulemaking plans.
       The early warning section in H.R. 5164 enables NHTSA to 
     obtain information about potential defects earlier than under 
     current law. The agency will use the information in deciding 
     whether to open an investigation and will be able to release 
     information in the context of its investigation, as it does 
     today. Information that is not made a part of an 
     investigation could be released if NHTSA determines it would 
     assist in carrying out the agency's investigative 
     responsibilities. The bill contains a new section 30170 that 
     augments the penalties under section 1001 of title 18, United 
     States Code, if a person intentionally misleads the Secretary 
     concerning a safety defect that results in death or serious 
     injury. A ``Safe Harbor'' provision would excuse the person 
     from the augmented penalties, but would not excuse the person 
     from other penalties under section 1001. The Department of 
     Justice will communicate separately its views on the criminal 
     provisions.
       The focus now turns to the Senate, where you have been 
     working diligently on passage of similar legislation, S. 
     3059, the Motor Vehicle and Motor Vehicle Equipment Defect 
     Notification Improvement Act. Both of the bills contain 
     several key provisions proposed by the Clinton-Gore 
     Administration. We are committed to ensuring that NHTSA has 
     the authority to seek and receive information on potential 
     defects; receives sufficient funding to carry out its 
     expanded responsibilities; and has the authority to impose 
     stiffer penalties to ensure compliance with U.S. motor 
     vehicle safety laws.
       Also, Senate confirmation of the President's nominee for 
     Administrator of NHTSA would help implementation of this 
     legislation immeasurably.
       In the final days of the 106th Congress, we must not lose 
     the opportunity to save lives and prevent injuries. I urge 
     the full Senate to pass H.R. 5164 before the end of this 
     session. It is critically needed legislation.
           Sincerely,
                                                 Rodney E. Slater.

  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I will quote parts of the letter from 
Secretary Slater:

       Dear Mr. Chairman: As you know, the House acted early today 
     to pass H.R. 5164, the Transportation Recall Enhancement, 
     Accountability, and Documentation Act. This is another 
     important step toward resolving issues raised by the National 
     Highway Traffic Safety Administration's ongoing Firestone 
     tire investigation.
       We strongly support enactment of H.R. 5164. The bill 
     provides increased penalties for safety defects and 
     noncompliances in motor vehicles and motor vehicle equipment; 
     lengthens the period for free remedy of defects and 
     noncompliances; enhances the ability of NHTSA to obtain 
     information from foreign as well as domestic sources; and 
     authorizes increased appropriations to enable NHTSA to carry 
     out its additional responsibilities. These provisions were 
     sought by the Administration in its proposed legislation. 
     H.R. 5164 also directs NHTSA to review and report on its 
     procedures for opening defect investigations, a review which 
     the agency has already begun, and directs NHTSA to conduct 
     rulemaking to amend the safety standards on tires, an action 
     which is consistent with the agency's rulemaking plans.

  I will not read the whole letter, except the last paragraph:

       In the final days of the 106th Congress, we must not lose 
     the opportunity to save lives and prevent injuries. I urge 
     the full Senate to pass H.R. 5164 before the end of this 
     session. It is critically needed legislation.

  Save lives and prevent injuries.
  I ask unanimous consent to print in the Record a letter that was sent 
from Ms. Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, and others to the 
House of Representatives on October 9.
  That letter says:

       Dear Representative: We are writing to urge the passage of 
     H.R. 5164, despite its serious deficiencies.

  It ends up in the last part of the letter:

       We urge you to vote to send this bill forward, to encourage 
     the House managers to work with the Senate managers to 
     improve the legislation, and to make sure the authority of 
     NHTSA to protect the public safety is not degraded.

  Even though there may be objections from Ms. Claybrook and some of 
her colleagues, the fact is she wrote to the House urging a vote for 
this legislation at this time. I think it should be an important part 
of the Record.
  Finally, I do not view this as a panacea. The Presiding Officer has 
significant concerns. We had entered into a colloquy concerning his 
concerns. Those concerns are legitimate. I assure the Senator from Ohio 
that the Senator from South Carolina and I will continue to work on 
this issue next year. I will tell the Senator from Ohio why: Because 
there is going to be more people dying before this issue is resolved. 
Just this last weekend in Louisiana, a young boy, who was in a rollover 
accident from a tire that shredded, went into a coma.

  I am pleased and gratified that the Senator from South Carolina, who 
has some differing views, as I do, on this bill, wants to see it 
perfected, as does the Senator from Ohio. But I also agree with the 
Secretary of Transportation who says that this is an enormously 
important step forward to take.
  I take this opportunity to thank Senator Hollings for his efforts and 
the way we worked in a bipartisan fashion to report a bill by a vote of 
20-0 out of the Commerce Committee.
  I will propound two unanimous consent requests, if the first one is 
objected to. If the first one is objected to, then I will try another 
unanimous consent request.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Will the distinguished Senator yield?
  Mr. McCAIN. I will be glad to yield to the Senator from South 
Carolina.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, the distinguished chairman of the 
committee has led the way on this tire safety measure on the Senate 
side. I just had an opportunity to look at the House provision. There 
is no question that there are two or three things in there that should 
be cleared up. One, it has certain reporting requirements, but then the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is supposed to keep them 
top secret. I want that explained to me. We do not operate like the 
CIA. There is no reason to keep it from public knowledge. In fact, that 
is exactly why we have this entity--to collect reported defects that 
come to the attention of the consumers in America.
  Secondly, there is another provision with respect to criminal 
penalties. I have tire manufacturers in my State, and I wanted to be 
absolutely clear that we did not unduly threaten fine, good businessmen 
who are working to produce a safe product. Or make it so that they 
would be faced with some kind of criminal charge by way of a mistake 
that did not come to their knowledge. That was not the intent of the 
Senator from Arizona and the Senator from South Carolina as we worked 
through this.
  Obviously, that was taken out of the Senate bill. Otherwise we would 
never have had a unanimous vote in reporting this bill 20-0. But there 
is a provision in that House bill whereby if there has been a willful 
and malicious reporting to this agency--such as we saw in the tobacco 
case where they all raised their hands and you knew they were lying at 
the time--then there should be a criminal penalty. That ought to be 
cleared up in the House bill.
  We are only asking that the Senate bill be considered so we can amend 
the House bill and work this measure out under the leadership of 
Senator McCain.
  The other provision with respect to the reporting of claims--after 
all that is the only way we found out about these recent deaths that 
now approximate 100 killed on the highways. As

[[Page S10231]]

they brought these claims down to a conclusion, the judge put them 
under what we call a gag order where they were not allowed to consider 
or consult or even talk about the final settlement. It was more or less 
kept top secret from the press and media, and nobody knew it was going 
on.
  Of course, NHTSA has been practically dormant. They have not operated 
the tire safety requirements since the year 1973, and this reflects on 
us in the committee. They have not had or ordered a single recall on 
tires in the last 5 years.

  There have been 99 million overall safety vehicle recalls, but they 
have all been voluntary on account of the threats of lawsuits. We know 
that. It was only because of the word getting out about these lawsuits 
that we finally have gotten to pay attention to this, bringing out a 
bill, unanimously reported under the leadership of the distinguished 
chairman of the Commerce Committee, which is totally bipartisan.
  I join in the Senator's request, which I am confident he will make, 
that we be able to bring the Senate bill up, amend the House bill, work 
this out in the next few days--it could be worked out by tomorrow--and 
have a good measure that would save lives in America.
  I yield the floor.
  Several Senators addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from South Carolina. I 
understand his concerns.
  Let me quote from a letter from the Secretary of Transportation:

       The early warning section of H.R. 5164, enables NHTSA to 
     obtain information about potential defects earlier than under 
     current law. The agency will use the information in deciding 
     whether to open an investigation and will be able to release 
     information in the context of its investigation, as it does 
     today. Information that is not made a part of an 
     investigation could be released if NHTSA determines it would 
     assist in carrying out the agency's investigative 
     responsibilities. The bill contains a new section 30170 that 
     augments the penalties under section 1001 of title 18, United 
     States Code, if a person intentionally misleads the 
     Secretary concerning a safety defect that results in death 
     or serious injury. A ``Safe Harbor'' provision would 
     excuse the person from the augmented penalties, but would 
     not excuse the person from other penalties under section 
     1001. The Department of Justice will communicate 
     separately its views on the criminal provisions.

  I point out again, this is not a perfect bill. I want exactly what 
came out of the Senate. The House passed, unanimously, by a voice vote, 
H.R. 5164.
  The Secretary of Transportation says: ``We strongly support 
enactment.'' He finishes up by saying--and I hope my colleagues 
understand this--

       In the final days of the 106th Congress, we must not lose 
     the opportunity to save lives and prevent injuries.

  This is not a perfect piece of legislation but an awesome 
responsibility, at least in the view of the Secretary of 
Transportation. An opportunity to save lives and prevent injuries is 
occurring here. I do not think we can let that pass by.
  If there is objection, I will, again, ask that the Senator who 
objects appear on the floor to object. We are not talking about a 
policy decision here; we are talking about the fact that over 100 lives 
have been taken on America's highways over a defect that, in the view 
of every expert, we are making significant progress in addressing.
  So, Mr. President, I will begin with my first unanimous consent 
request, and I will follow it with a second unanimous consent request 
if it is objected to.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives 
H.R. 5164 from the House, it be held at the desk. I ask further that it 
be in order for the majority leader, after consultation with the 
Democratic leader, to proceed to consideration of the bill, and that 
only relevant amendments be in order to the bill, and that the bill 
then, as amended, if amended, be advanced to third reading and passed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, I say to my friend from 
Arizona, I do not have a copy of the request, but it is my 
understanding, from hearing what the Senator read, it is a bill to come 
before the Senate with relevant amendments.
  Mr. McCAIN. Yes, that is correct.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. NICKLES. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that it be in 
order for the majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic 
leader, to proceed to consideration of H.R. 5164 and that it be 
immediately advanced to third reading and passed, with no intervening 
action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, would the Senator read that 
unanimous consent request again, please?
  Mr. McCAIN. I ask unanimous consent that it be in order for the 
majority leader, after consultation with the Democratic leader, to 
proceed to consideration of H.R. 5164 and that it be immediately 
advanced to third reading and passed, with no intervening action or 
debate.
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, I say to my friend from 
Arizona, this has been signed off on by the ranking member of the 
committee and signed off on by the leadership over here. But we still 
have two Senators who want to offer relevant amendments. We will work 
on that and see what we can do. But at this stage, because of that, I 
am going to have to object unless the agreement allows for relevant 
amendments. We would agree to time limits. We would agree to a very 
short time limit on the relevant amendments, but we do have two 
Senators who wish to offer relevant amendments.
  Mr. McCAIN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, as I said on Friday, this is not an 
ordinary piece of legislation. It is a piece of legislation that, in 
the view of the Secretary of Transportation, has to do with saving 
lives and preventing injuries. Over 100 Americans have died on the 
highways of America already.
  After the completion of Senator Roberts' remarks, I will insist that 
the two Senators come down and object in person. This is too serious a 
business, I tell the Senator from Nevada, for them to assume a cloak of 
anonymity. If they want amendments, then I will be more than happy to 
hear their objections and see what their amendments are. But this is 
not acceptable. It is not acceptable, when lives are at stake, for 
Senators--at least the Senator from Oklahoma objects and comes down and 
takes the responsibility for the objection. It is not acceptable for 
Members on the other side of the aisle to hide behind the Senator from 
Nevada in their objections.
  Mr. NICKLES. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. McCAIN. I am glad to yield to the Senator from Oklahoma for a 
question.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. NICKLES. I am asking the Senator from Arizona a question.
  The unanimous consent request that you are now making is to take up 
and pass the bill that passed last night, without objection. It passed 
by a voice vote late last night, unanimously, through the House of 
Representatives, and is the bill that the Secretary of Transportation, 
Mr. Slater, urged that the Senate and the Congress pass?
  Mr. McCAIN. I might add, it has to do with saving lives and 
preventing injuries.
  Mr. NICKLES. I compliment my friend from Arizona because, one, you 
are showing flexibility. I compliment you because you have stated what 
your preference is. You have your preference in the bill that passed 
out of the Commerce Committee, of which you are the Chair and Senator 
Hollings is the ranking member. But you are also saying, if I cannot 
get that, realizing that we are on overtime right now and we are 
running out of days, you are willing to say, let's take the House-
passed bill. The House-passed bill passed unanimously. That does not 
happen all that often around here for legislation that is this 
significant.
  The Senator from Arizona is saying he is willing to take it and pass 
it. It is the same bill that the administration says they want. And it 
will become law if we can get this consent agreed to.

[[Page S10232]]

  So I compliment my colleague from Arizona. I hope our colleagues 
would possibly even reconsider and let us pass this bill tonight or 
tomorrow.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, under my reservation, I remind the Senator 
from Arizona and the Senator from Oklahoma that on Friday of last week 
we agreed on this side to have the Senate bill brought before the 
Senate at that time, pursuant to the unanimous consent request of the 
Senator from Arizona, to have relevant amendments. We have no objection 
to that coming before the Senate and working on it that way.
  This matter which has just passed the House, we just got it a matter 
of minutes ago--not hours ago; minutes ago--and we have two Senators 
who want to look at this legislation. They have some idea that they 
want to offer relevant amendments. We know that, come the light of day, 
they may not want to offer those relevant amendments, but now they do.
  So I say to my friend from Arizona that he can come back after 
Senator Roberts speaks, but the same objection will be there unless we 
hear in the interim that the Senators, for some unknown reason, 
withdraw their objections.
  On that, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. McCAIN addressed the Chair.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Arizona retains the floor.
  Mr. McCAIN. Let me just say that I will be here on the floor. If the 
two Senators who object from the other side of the aisle would like to 
come down, I would be glad to discuss their concerns. I would be glad 
to commit to holding hearings, along with Senator Hollings, next year 
to try to perfect this bill.
  I know my friend from South Carolina has serious concerns about the 
safe harbor aspect of this bill. I intend to work with him to tighten 
it up. I much would have preferred the bill pass through the Senate, 
let me tell you.
  We inaugurated a little phrase called ``straight talk'' back when I 
was seeking another office. I will tell you, in straight talk, what 
this is all about. This is the trial lawyers against the automotive 
interests. Trial lawyers do not want it because they do not like the 
provisions. They want to be able to sue anybody for anything under any 
circumstances. And the automotive industry wants this thing killed, 
figuring that the publicity surrounding these accidents and these 
tragedies that are taking place will die out and they will be able to 
kill off this legislation next year.
  Straight talk, Mr. President, that is really what it is all about. It 
is another compelling argument for campaign finance reform because 
neither the trial lawyers who want to make this bill untenable for the 
manufacturers, nor the manufacturers who want to water down this bill 
so dramatically that it will have no effect, should be the ones who are 
driving this problem.
  This legislation is all about saving lives and preventing injuries. 
So what we are seeing here is that special interests are winning again. 
I think it is wrong. I don't know how you go back to the American 
people and say we didn't enact legislation--we could not get together 
after a unanimous vote in the House--to resolve some concerns over an 
issue that ``would save lives and prevent injuries.''
  Mr. REID. If the Senator will yield, I say to my friend, he and I 
came to Washington at the same time 18 years ago. I know he has more 
patience than I, but we have to have a little bit of patience. In this 
instance, I don't think it is going to require a great deal of 
patience. We are going to be in session tomorrow, and I think there is 
a very good possibility, as I see it, that the persuasive arguments 
Senators have made today and last week will prevail and this 
legislation will pass.
  As things now stand, we have people who haven't been able to read the 
bill. They may have some problems with it. The ranking member, the 
Senator from South Carolina, and some of our people over here--and, of 
course, the Senator from South Carolina works well with the Senator 
from Arizona, and we will see what we can do to get this wrapped up.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, in closing, I appreciate the efforts on 
the part of the Senator from Nevada. As he said, he and I came to 
Congress together many years ago, and we are good friends. I want to 
also, again, pay great praise to Senator Hollings, who has really had 
to go a long way in compromising in order to see that this legislation 
is passed. I will be seeking unanimous consent tomorrow morning. I am 
not exactly sure when, but it will be sometime in the morning when it 
fits in with the parliamentary procedures. I hope the unanimous consent 
request can be agreed to. I thank my friend from South Carolina and the 
Senator from Nevada. I know we will be working assiduously to try to 
get these objections solved.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from South Carolina.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Mr. President, I don't want the Senator to take back 
his praise, but let me clear the record relative to trial lawyers. 
Trial lawyers got us where we are. If it hadn't been for trial lawyers 
bringing the cases and filing some of the reports made on the 
recoveries thereof, we would not have awakened, literally, and awakened 
our own Commerce Committee to have the hearings to put us on the floor 
this evening.
  I am intimate with the trial lawyer movement in this country. I can 
tell you that they have become a whipping boy for Tom Donahue and his 
blooming Chamber of Commerce, and any time you want to pass some 
measure like the Y2K bill, the trial lawyers had no objection 
whatsoever.
  I have to correct the record because the chairman said that is the 
contest that is going on, about the right to sue and everything else. 
They have the right. The right is there and neither the Senate bill nor 
the House bill denies that right. We strengthen it with the reporting 
and then make the reports public so they can be attained, and they can 
avoid going to court on cases and avoid trial lawyers. So this 
particular bill is agreed to by this particular trial lawyer--either 
the Senate or the House version this evening, right now. I would vote 
for either one of them. But I think we can get a much better bill with 
the Senate bill. I wanted to correct the comments made about the trial 
lawyers because they have been there bringing peace and justice and 
safety to America's consumers. They got us this far, and I am proud to 
commend the trial lawyers for doing their work and saving lives.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I have one comment in response to my 
friend. I knew any comment about trial lawyers would not go unnoticed 
by him. As always, I am very appreciative of his comments.

  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Virginia is recognized.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I want to join the Democratic whip in 
propounding the identical unanimous consent request with regard to the 
bringing up of the DOD conference report as stated to the Senate by the 
distinguished majority leader just moments ago.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have no objection. The staffs of Senator 
Levin and Senator Warner have worked out the problem.
  Just a minute, Mr. President.
  Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, we are not going to be 
able to do the agreement. There is a procedural problem with the 
Agriculture authorization, which goes first. We will work on that 
later.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I handed the Senator a colloquy which 
Senator Levin signed. The Senator raising the objection signed the 
colloquy.
  Mr. REID. Why don't we have the Senator from Kansas speak, and we 
will see if anything can be done.
  Mr. WARNER. I withdraw the request.

                          ____________________